Charter management organization


A charter management organization 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 controls all elements of the operation of the schools under its control, including holding the charter. By convention, a CMO manages at least three schools.

History

Economist Milton Friedman in 1955 proposed that education could be improved by a universal school voucher program. A free market in primary and secondary education would allow consumers to choose among alternatives, stimulating competition and improvement. In 1974, Ray Budde, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, floated the idea of a charter school.
In 1991, Minnesota enacted legislation that enabled charter schools. Other states followed.
Some commercial charter management organizations operate large networks of schools.
EdisonLearning was founded in 1992.

Variants

Non-profit CMOs

Many states have adopted laws that require that the holder of the school charter be a non-profit organization. As a result, the most common form of a charter management organization is a 501 non-profit organization.
Examples include:
Wisconsin, California, Florida, Michigan, and Arizona allow for-profit corporations to manage charter schools.
Examples include:
In some cases a school's charter is held by a non-profit that chooses to contract all of the school's operations to a third party, often a for-profit CMO. This arrangement is defined as a vendor-operated school,.

Distinction from ''education management organization''

CMOs in some usages are distinct from EMOs. One authority on schools, Stanford University's Center for Research on Education Outcomes makes no distinction between terms. In its recent reports it describes CMO -- non-profit and CMO -- for-profit.
The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools makes a clear distinction. CMOs are non-profit; EMOs are for-profit.