Bond aids charter school’s growth

Sequoia Charter School is getting some big upgrades as it reaps the benefits of a $28.6 million bond issue that will allow it to buy its facility, make renovations and construct new buildings on its Mesa campus.

Sequoia is operated by Choice Education and Development Corporation, which runs 12 schools across the state, ranging from an arts academy in Phoenix to three schools for deaf or hard of hearing students.

The Mesa campus at 1460 S. Horne will be getting a new 10,000-square-foot gym, more classrooms and facilities for three new programs.

“They’re adding a performing arts program, which is great, with a lot of schools cutting back on the arts,” said school spokeswoman Dee Ann Deaton. “They’re also adding a distance learning program, which enables kids to gain college credit.”

The school, which serves 900 students from kindergarten to 12th grade, also will expand its special education program.

The Sequoia School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, where teachers use both speech and American Sign Language to instruct, also will be able to improve its programs, Deaton said.

Unlike district public schools, charter schools don’t receive support for construction from the Arizona School Facilities Board, nor can they increase local property taxes to pay for new facilities.

Instead, it is common for charters to take advantage of a state law that allows them to receive money from county industrial development authorities, which issue municipal bonds that are sold to private investors, explained Patric Greer, business manager for Choice Education and Development Corporation.

The bonds allow schools to borrow more money than they could by simply taking out a bank loan, he explained.

“We’re seeing more and more charter schools going for this type of bonding,” said Kristen Jordison, executive director of the State Board for Charter Schools, who said part of the reason could be that as charter schools become more established, investors see them as appropriate risks for bonding.

Sequoia’s bond issue is one of the largest issued to a charter school in state history, Deaton said.

The money helps pay for a facility and renovation of the Arizona Conservatory for the Arts and Academics, a Phoenix performing arts school with a college prep program for grades six to 12. It also pays for construction and equipment for the Home School Resource Support Center at Sequoia Village in Show Low.