Imagine Schools is a
charter management organization A charter management organization (CMO) is an educational organization that operates charter schools in the United States. Charter schools are public schools that operate independently of the local government school district.
A CMO contracts with ...
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 Bakke with $155 million of the fortune Dennis had earned as
chief executive officer
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization.
CEOs find roles in variou ...
of
AES Corporation
The AES Corporation is an American utility and power generation company. It owns and operates power plants, which it uses to generate and sell electricity to end users and intermediaries like utilities and industrial facilities. AES, headquarte ...
, a global energy provider which he co-founded in 1981.
History
Beacon Education Management was founded in 1996. In June 2004, Imagine Schools Inc., led by Dennis Bakke, acquired Chancellor Beacon Academies, adding over 70 charter schools and nearly 20,000 students to its management. Bakke and his wife, Eileen, co-founded Imagine Schools in January 2004.
By 2008, Imagine had grown to 56 schools.
In 2015, Imagine Schools was ordered to pay a $1 million judgment as part of a self-dealing scheme. As part of a complex arrangement, Imagine Schools had negotiated above market rents for its facilities, which it actually owned through a subsidiary.
Peer group
In 2015, Imagine adopted non-profit tax status.
Similar organizations are known as charter management organizations (CMOs). Other large non-profits are
KIPP
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 ...
(209 schools) and Cosmos.
Similar services are provided by for-profit entities known as
education management organization An education management organization (EMO) is a term of art describing a for-profit entity that manages schools. It provides a distinction from charter management organization which is a ''non-profit'' manager of charter schools. The terms are oft ...
s (EMOs).
K12 was the largest in the US in 2011–2012.
K12 does not manage any brick-and-mortar schools, instead delivering schooling on line.
References
Charter management organizations
American companies established in 1996
{{US-edu-stub