Parents take control of Phoenix charter school to save it from financial crisis

PHOENIX – A group of Valley parents launched a nonprofit to take over their children’s school charter after the former charter holder fell into financial disarray.

Phoenix Modern is a K-8 charter school that operates with a “whole child framework,” or the belief that children are learners on their own journey. Students are referred to as “learners” and teachers as “guides.”

The school, which opened in 2019 and currently has 126 students, is located near Central Avenue and Indian School Road in midtown Phoenix.

Johanna Harris, director of transition and parent to three students at Phoenix Modern, said she first noticed something was wrong financially when the school began to crowdfund to replace a broken air conditioning unit.

“As we started digging, it was like, OK, we have no options under this governance and our school’s going to close because they’re financially in crisis. What can we do? We reached out to the charter board as parents and found out that we could push a rushed transfer of charter, so we formed a nonprofit as parents and put together a board with experts in different fields,” she said.

The group of parents dubbed their new nonprofit Valley Learning Foundation of Arizona. The Arizona State Board for Charter Schools officially approved the transfer on April 7.

What happens next for Phoenix charter school?

The charter contract will officially transfer from original holder New Learning Ventures Inc. on July 1.

According to the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools, Phoenix Modern had been facing financial risks since 2020, with items such as “revenue exceeding expenses” and “facility and debt costs covered” rated as below standard.

Harris said if the transfer wasn’t approved, the school likely would have closed and lost its charter contract.

The new nonprofit is looking to raise $250,000 to pad out the school’s budget, Harris said. But ultimately, the school has the means to to operate only with its state funding, which will begin coming in July. She said the average state funding is around $10,000 a student.

Larry Curan, a Valley Learning Foundation board member, addressed the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools to explain the current building situation. He said the nonprofit is trying to figure out how to keep the current lease into the next school year.

“I think we have the best case, lowest interruption, lowest cost of operations — moving furniture, moving people, leases, startups, everything else — by staying where we’re at,” he said.

The state charter board is requiring the school to provide a building solution by June 1.

Funding for this journalism is made possible by the Arizona Local News Foundation.

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