New report finds nonprofits outpacing the for-profit school-management industry

Contact:
Gary Miron - (269) 599-7965; gary.miron@wmich.edu
Kevin Welner - (303) 492-8370; kevin.welner@gmail.com

BOULDER, Colo., TEMPE, Ariz., and KALAMAZOO, Mich. (October 15, 2009) -- In contrast with their for-profit counterparts, nonprofit Education Management Organizations (EMOs) are growing at a steady pace, according to a new report jointly released today by researchers at three universities: the College of Education at Western Michigan University, the Education Policy Research Unit at Arizona State University, and the Education and the Public Interest Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Nonprofit EMOs "are garnering more support and are growing steadily, while the growth of for-profit EMOs is slowing," reports the 2008-2009 edition of Profiles of Nonprofit Education Management Organizations.

Authored by Gary Miron and Jessica Urschel of Western Michigan University, this second annual Profiles report tracks trends in the nonprofit education management industry. The report is a companion to the Profiles of For-Profit Education Management Organizations, written by Miron and Urschel in collaboration with Alex Molnar of Arizona State University.

Education Management Organizations manage charter schools or conventional public schools under contracts, either with charter holders or with public school districts. The EMO sector emerged in the 1990s as part of an effort to use market forces to reform public education. Until recently, most attention has been focused on for-profit EMOs; however, new interest and private funds have been devoted to the nonprofit management sector.

The EMO Profiles reports are written for a broad audience that includes policymakers, educators, school district officials, and school board members as well as investors, EMO employees or education industry participants. It provides a unique, comprehensive overview of the nonprofit education management sector. Among the report's findings:

• Nonprofit EMOs operated public schools in half of the nation's 50 states last year, with the greatest concentration in Texas, California, Arizona, and Ohio. Although Illinois has relatively few charter schools, it has the highest proportion (72%) of its charter schools managed by nonprofit EMOs.
• There now exist 103 nonprofit EMOs in the U.S., including 16 described in the report as "large" (managing 10 or more schools); 40 "medium-sized" (four to nine schools); and 47 "small" (three or fewer schools). Altogether, nonprofit EMOs managed 609 public schools in 2008-2009. "Large" nonprofit EMOs managed nearly half -- 46 percent -- of these. More than 97 percent of the schools managed by nonprofit EMOs are charter schools.
• Growth in the number of different nonprofit EMOs has tapered off somewhat since 2004, while the number of schools they operate has continued to grow. KIPP, the Knowledge is Power Program, a national charter school network, experienced the largest net increase in schools during the past school year, growing from 57 to 64 schools. This may indicate a trend toward consolidation in the sector.
• Small nonprofit EMOs have a larger average school enrollment than the large and medium-sized EMOs. This is in sharp contrast to for-profit EMOs, where the large EMOs have the largest average school size.

Find Profiles of Nonprofit Education Management Organizations on the web at:
http://epicpolicy.org/publication/profiles-nonprofit-emos-2008-09

CONTACT:
AUTHOR: Professor Gary Miron
Phone: (269) 599-7965
Email: gary.miron@wmich.edu 

Kevin Welner, Professor and Director
Education and the Public Interest Center
University of Colorado at Boulder
(303) 492-8370
Email: kevin.welner@gmail.com

Alex Molnar, Professor and Director
Education Policy Research Unit
Arizona State University
(480) 965-1886
Email: alex.molnar@asu.edu