A charter school operator hired by Atlanta Public Schools to run one of the district’s elementary schools is taking a conservative approach to enrollment projections after a warning about its financial management.
In 2017, the Kindezi Schools took over Gideons Elementary School, an academically struggling school in the southwest Atlanta neighborhood of Pittsburgh.
Kindezi already operated two charter schools in the Atlanta district, but its work at Gideons represents a new model. As part of a plan to improve troubled schools, APS signed contracts with Kindezi and two other charter-related groups to run and staff six district schools.
In March, APS sent Kindezi a “letter of concern” about financial problems at Gideons during 2017-2018, the first year under new operation. Gideons failed to meet four of six financial performance standards that year, according to documents The Atlanta Journal-Constitution obtained through an open-records request.
The letter marked the first time APS had expressed concerns about the finances of any of the schools it had turned over to outside operators, the district said.
That school ended its first year under new management $214,287 in the hole, though officials said that overall, the Kindezi system operated in the black.
At the end of the 2017-2018 school year, Gideons had only enough cash on hand that wasn’t earmarked for a specific purpose to operate for 1.42 days, far below the 30- to 60-day recommended threshold, according to APS documents.
Dean Leeper, Kindezi’s executive director, said he’s not worried about finances. He said the Kindezi system as a whole currently has enough cash on hand to last 65 days.
Problems at Gideons stemmed from the difficulty of projecting student enrollment, the basis for most of the funding it receives from APS.
Gideons enrolled 311 students in 2016. In 2017, Kindezi’s first year of operation, enrollment bounced up to 364 students, according to state numbers.
For the 2018-2019 school year, enrollment climbed to 379 students but fell short of Kindezi’s projections.
Student numbers at Gideons are impacted by gentrification. Property investors are buying homes where families live, displacing residents from the neighborhood, Leeper said.
The school is working with outside partners to find affordable housing so families can remain in the community, he said.
Going forward, Gideons will be more conservative with enrollment projections. For the upcoming school year, it’s projecting flat or even declining enrollment, Leeper said.
In a letter to APS, he said Kindezi “overestimated the potential for growth in our second year and overstaffed Gideons to meet a demand that did not materialize.”
That led to Kindezi transferring four Gideons teachers to one of its charter schools to avoid layoffs.
Small class sizes are a core part of Kindezi's approach. In its agreement with APS, Kindezi said it would strive to not exceed an average student-to-teacher ratio of 10-to-1.
Leeper said Gideons’ average class size last year was eight students. If you count special education, physical education and other kinds of teachers, the ratio was closer to one teacher for every six students.
The class size for next year will be “in that ballpark,” he said. The conservative approach to enrollment projections will allow the school to “hire up rather than lay off” if actual student counts come in higher than estimated.
“If we get more students than we are expecting then we will hire in the first quarter of the year,” he said. “We are developing a pool of ready contacts. What we don’t ever want to do is lay off teachers because that kills morale.”
APS has been satisfied with Kindezi's response, said Matt Underwood, executive director of the district office that oversees charter and partner schools.
He said APS has monitored the school’s monthly financial statements to make sure it is on track: “They seem to be in good financial position.”
Gideons Elementary School enrollment
October 2018: 379
October 2017: 364*
October 2016: 311
October 2015: 380
October 2014: 458
October 2013: 537
October 2012: 461
*First year of Kindezi Schools operation
Source: Georgia Department of Education
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