A charter management organization (CMO) is an educational organization that operates

charter schools A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...

in the United States. Charter schools are public schools that operate independently of the local government school district. A CMO contracts with a charter school to provide a specific service or set of services. They may not hold the charter except for in AZ. By convention, a CMO manages at least three schools and serves at least 300 students. Additionally, they must be a separate business entity from the school.

History

Economist

Milton Friedman Milton Friedman (; July 31, 1912 – November 16, 2006) was an American economist and statistician who received the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his research on consumption analysis, monetary history and theory and ...

in 1955 proposed that education could be improved by a universal

school voucher A school voucher, also called an education voucher in a voucher system, is a certificate of government funding for students at schools chosen by themselves or their parents. Funding is usually for a particular year, term, or semester. In some cou ...

program. A free market in primary and secondary education would allow consumers (parents) to choose among alternatives, stimulating competition and improvement. In 1974, Ray Budde, a professor at the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a public land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts system and was founded in 1863 as the ...

, floated the idea of a charter school. In 1991, Minnesota enacted legislation that enabled charter schools. Other states followed. Some commercial charter management organizations operate large networks of schools.

EdisonLearning EdisonLearning Inc., formerly known as Edison Schools Inc., is a for-profit education management organization for public schools in the United States and the United Kingdom. Edison is based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. School districts hire the ...

was founded in 1992.

Variants

Non-profit CMOs

Many states have adopted laws that require that the holder of the school charter be a non-profit organization. In these instances, a charter school must form a

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, Trust (business), trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of ...

non-profit organization. Typically this new business entity forms a school board to oversee the operations of the new public charter school. However, they may then choose to contract with a CMO to provide management related services. Examples include: *

Knowledge Is Power Program The Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) is a network of tuition-free, open-enrollment college-preparatory public charter schools serving students in historically underserved communities across the United States. Founded in 1994 by Mike Feinber ...

Imagine Schools Imagine Schools is a charter management organization in the United States, operating 55 schools in 9 states. They are K-8, for the most part. In 2015, Imagine schools had enrolled 29,812 students. Imagine Schools was founded by Dennis and Eileen ...

For-profit EMOs

Wisconsin, California, Florida, Michigan, and Arizona allow for-profit corporations to manage charter schools. Examples include: * Stride, Inc. * Academica

Vendor operated school

In some cases a school's charter is held by a non-profit that chooses to contract all of the school's operations to a third party, often a for-profit CMO. This arrangement is defined as a ''vendor-operated school'', (''VOS'').

Distinction from ''education management organization''

CMOs in some usages are distinct from EMOs (

education management organizations Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education also fol ...

). One authority on schools,

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

's Center for Research on Education Outcomes makes no distinction between terms. In its recent reports it describes ''CMO -- non-profit'' and ''CMO -- for-profit''. The

National Alliance for Public Charter Schools The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools is a non-profit trade association serving the charter school industry. NAPCS advocates for all charter schools including those that contract with charter management organizations and education mana ...

makes a clear distinction. CMOs are non-profit; EMOs are for-profit.

References

{{Reflist Charter management organizations