Sellersburg, Indiana's Rock Creek Community Academy is turning to the bond market to finance construction of a new charter school building as it looks to take enrollment from a neighboring struggling public school district.
The school plans to issue $14 million in tax-exempt education facilities revenue bonds and $225,000 in taxable educational facilities revenue bonds through the Indiana Finance Authority to finance construction of the new building. The bonds are scheduled to price on Wednesday.
PNC Capital Markets LLC is the senior manager. The bonds are unrated.
The school hopes to attract more students from nearby West Clark Community public school district.
“We believe that RCAA’s new facility and specialized curriculum will offer students and their parents a strong alternative to the issues currently faced in the local school district,” said Susan Miller, Treasurer at Rock Creek Community Academy. “RCCA also has strong academic performance compared to peers and competitors.”
Miller says that RCAA has seen “a great deal of interest” from students in the Sellersburg area that would normally attend West Clark’s public schools.
West Clark Community Public School’s failed $95 million bond referendum last November would have financed major renovations to all district facilities and building additions at the district’s Silver Creek campus. The district must now wait at least another two years before it can put the issue on the ballot again. It has since implemented a cost savings plan and is considering splitting into two separate districts.
“Right now [West Clark’s] buildings in the town of Sellersburg are not being maintained well and they are full to bursting with students,” said Miller. “It’s creating an issue with parents and students.”
Miller said that another added perk for Sellersburg area students looking to make the switch to the charter school is that they will be picked up and dropped off by public school buses already servicing the area. “This will be a very nice thing for parents because one of the biggest problems has been transportation and parents having problems getting kids to school,” Miller said.
Enrollment at the charter school for K-12 for the 2017 -18 school year was 459. By comparison the West Clark community schools enrollment last year was 4,768.
Miller said that the enrollment target for the new facility is 800 students and said that early applications have tripled between 2017-18 and 2018-19 school years.
The new building, which is projected to be open for the 2019-20 school year, will have 62,454 square feet. The new facility will be built to allow the school to provide athletic and artistic offerings, which Miller said was key to attracting and retaining new students especially in the upper grades.
“One reason that students leave in high school is to pursue an arts program at another school so we think that this will be a major advantage to us going forward,” Miller said.
The vast majority of Rock Creek’s revenue is comprised of per pupil aid payments from the state and the school has no bonds outstanding.
Rock Creek formerly operated as a private school until 2010 when it transitioned into a public charter school. The authorizer was Ball State University, which is the largest authorizer of charter schools in Indiana. Currently it operates grades k-12 in several small facilities in Sellersburg, Indiana.
