Pandemic, real estate prices force charter schools to delay openings

Five new charter schools were due to open in Las Vegas in August. Now there are only two.

The other three – Sage Collegiate Public Charter School, Eagle Charter Schools of Nevada, and Las Vegas Collegiate Charter School – have postponed their opening until Fall 2022.

The schools, all of which plan to have students across the Las Vegas Valley, are struggling to find a facility or property within their budget in a competitive real estate market.

The COVID-19 pandemic also had a significant impact on several schools originally slated for the upcoming school year, said Rebecca Feiden, executive director of the Nevada State Public Charter School Authority.

“This includes everything from public relations to supply chains and facilities,” she said via email. “The SPCSA looks forward to working with the governing bodies and principals of these recognized schools to ensure a successful start in autumn 2022.”

Sage Collegiate received government permission in June to postpone the opening date to August 2022 because enrollment levels were low and securing a facility was delayed for the first year.

Sandra Kinne, senior founder and managing director of the small, independent school, said postponing the opening date was the most prudent and financially sound decision.

“We thought it best to focus on completing a really strong facility for the opening rather than trying to meet even the minimal registration goals,” said Kinne. “It wasn’t an easy decision.”

For families who loved the school and were planning to start their kids in August, it “really stinks,” she admitted.

Long waiting lists

With three schools closed this year, two new ones remain: TEACH Las Vegas and CIVICA Nevada Career & Collegiate Academy.

The state legislature approved the establishment of public charter schools in 1997. Since then, the number of campuses has grown rapidly and many schools have long waiting lists.

Now the state charter agency oversees 67 school campuses – about 80 percent of them in southern Nevada – and more than 53,000 students.

For the past five years, the state has approved zero to five new charter schools annually. There is no cap on the number of new schools the Charter Authority’s board of directors can approve, although legislation passed in 2019 requires a growth management plan.

Proposed new schools must demonstrate how they will meet an academic or demographic need. Many of the new and government-approved school applicants aim to support areas of high poverty.

New schools are licensed to operate in one or more zip codes and must locate a facility within those boundaries unless they ask the state for permission to view nearby areas.

Finding land to build, or a facility to lease or buy that fits within a startup charter school’s budget can be a challenge.

Petra Latch, president of Commercial Alliance Las Vegas, the commercial arm of the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, said she was not surprised that new charter schools are having trouble building or finding a facility.

Latch said school officials are better off working with local communities to see if they own any land available for redevelopment.

Trying to open a school without already having identified a location means putting the “cart in front of the horse,” said Latch, an appraiser.

“The market in which you are competing for land is not conducive to a school,” she said.

Charter schools often require a joint venture where schools need someone to build a facility and then rent it back to them with an option to buy, Latch said.

“That’s the more typical way these things are done,” she said, noting that schools are expensive to build and require a high initial capital investment.

However, new charter schools have a variety of building types to choose from – such as old office buildings, churches, retail stores, and in commercial parks – although some facilities may require special use permits to be used as schools.

Church buildings are a popular option, Latch said, as they are usually easier to convert into schools as many already have classrooms and parking spaces.

In downtown and central Las Vegas in particular, there won’t be any open space unless it’s a site that has been demolished or made up of smaller parcels, Latch said. In addition, packages are usually smaller and probably not big enough for a school.

Construction costs are also rising and are unpredictable, she said.

Here’s a look at the obstacles three new Las Vegas charter schools faced that caused them to reschedule their opening dates:

Wise collegiate

Sage Collegiate applied to the state in 2019, but its new school application was rejected. The Charter Authority raised concerns about the school’s proposed academic, organizational and financial plans and the lack of evidence of local community involvement.

After submitting a revised application, the school was approved in November.

It is planned to look after up to 168 students from kindergarten to second grade in the first year and gradually expand them to middle school.

However, with less than two months to go until school was scheduled to start in August, the Sage Collegiate was less than 50 percent of its first year enrollment target.

The board of directors of Sage Collegiate approved a user agreement with the song Memorial Boys & Girls Club for the school year 2021/22 in May. But the school is now looking for another facility as it won’t open this fall.

The school secured the building space just a month before a state enrollment test, Kinne, the school’s executive director, told the review journal. “One month wasn’t enough time for us to get the enrollment numbers to where they should be.”

“Understandably, families don’t want to be tied to school without an address,” he added.

There weren’t as many community events and opportunities to connect with potential families beyond social media either, Kinne said.

Sage Collegiate leaders are now considering a “number of different options” for their freshman year, such as allowing the state to open with more students and grades, Kinne said.

But first, “We really need to find a facility,” she said. “It has become priority number 1.”

It’s difficult to secure land or a building because the school doesn’t have a credit history or the capital to start building a new facility right away, Kinne said, and construction and renovation costs have increased during the pandemic.

Another challenge: Sage Collegiate does not require as much building space in the first year as it does later, for example in the sixth year.

Despite the obstacles, Sage Collegiate remains committed to serving students in its three approved zip codes – 89107, 89108 and 89146, Kinne said.

That’s because there’s a need, she said, noting that 60 percent of the existing campuses in these zip codes are one- or two-star schools. And there is only one other charter school in this area that uses a hybrid model with in-person and some online tuition.

College in Las Vegas

The Las Vegas Collegiate is postponing its opening date a second time because of the pandemic and asset-related issues, Feiden told the board of directors of the charter agency in May, calling the situation unprecedented.

In December 2019, the agency’s board approved the new elementary school for the historic west side of Las Vegas. The opening was originally planned for August last year.

The school secured a facility on West Bartlet Avenue last year but is now looking for space again after postponing its opening due to uncertainties surrounding the pandemic.

In January, the Charter Authority Board approved a request from the school to expand their search within 1½ miles of the approved zip code. But that didn’t bring any results.

School founder and CEO Bianté Gainous informed the Charter Authority board of directors in May that the school had exhausted all options available within its approved zip code, 89106, or within 1½ miles of opening this fall.

“Enrolling was definitely not a challenge for us,” said Gainous, noting that there were many interested families.

Gainous said the school aims to serve low-income communities and faces challenges in finding a building in its approved zone.

The school has explored options such as churches, former retail stores, a former lodge, business and corporate centers, a closed school, and a location for a boys and girls club.

Gainous said the school principals want to keep fighting to open up the school. “Unfortunately, this is exactly the point where we put ourselves under pressure.”

In June, the board approved another application from the school – this time to look for a facility within 4 miles of their approved zip code.

Las Vegas Collegiate officials did not respond to a review journal request for comment.

Eagle Charter Schools

The Charter Authority’s board of directors voted in January to approve the Eagle Charter Schools of Nevada, which had originally planned to open a campus in August.

But in February, Nick Fleege, a member of the school’s education committee, told the board the school intended to seek permission to postpone its opening date to 2022.

“I think we recognized the short runway” between getting a permit in January and having a school facility fully ready by August, he said.

In March, the school’s board of directors approved the school’s motion to postpone the opening. The school plans to initially serve kindergarten through fifth grade and later expand to eighth grade.

Fleege said in an email that postponing the school was an “easy decision based primarily on the timing of the charter approval coupled with the lead time to secure a facility”.

“While Eagle is very eager and excited to help the students, the team understands that taking the opportunity to move to 2022 and secure and improve a more appropriate facility is the responsible, measured approach “, he said.

Contact Julie Wootton-Greener at [email protected] or 702-387-2921. Follow @julieswootton on Twitter.