The Friendship-Edison partnership began five years ago and has grown to become the largest charter school in the nation, comprising four school campuses serving more than 3,000 K-12 students in Washington, D.C. Friendship Public Charter School, which was founded by Friendship House, a 99-year-old not-for-profit social service provider, holds a 15-year charter granted by the D.C. Public Charter School Board.

We are thrilled with our renewed management agreement with Edison and the outcome of this transaction, said Donald L. Hense, president & CEO of Friendship House and chair of Friendship Public Charter School. Through our partnership with Edison, we have created the largest charter school in the nation, and our student achievement results have put us among the top achieving schools in the entire district in only a few short years.

The placement of the District of Columbia Revenue Bonds is being managed by Citigroup Global Markets. The bonds are insured by ACA Financial Guaranty Corporation and are rated A by Standard & Poors. The underlying rating on the bonds by Standard & Poors is BBB.

The proceeds of the bond offering will be used to repay existing debt, including $17.2 million owed to Edison Schools Inc., to finance facilities improvements, technology and equipment acquisition and expansion, and to fund reserves and cover transaction costs.

This transaction is important to Edison on a number of fronts, said Chris Whittle, Edisons founder and CEO. First and foremost, it reaffirms our charter school strategy of working with strong community partners to establish independent charter schools that deliver great academic results and are financially viable. Second, it repays to Edison significant proceeds that Edison can reinvest in the growth of all of its lines of business. Third, the investment grade rating reflects the continued maturation of the charter school debt market and the increasing comfort of municipal bond investors with the charter school movement.

With this renewal, Edison remains the countrys largest manager of charter schools serving more than 25,000 charter school students across the country. We are thrilled to be able to continue our partnership with such a venerable and dedicated organization as Friendship Housewe have learned so much from one another, said Joe Keeney, president of Edisons Charter School Division. This contract renewal gives us the opportunity to keep our Friendship partnership schools in their rightful place among the finest schools in D.C.

Jeanne Allen, president of the Center for Education Reform, noted the significance of the Friendship renewal and the bond deal. The importance of this partnership and transaction cannot be underestimated. Its a clear vote of confidence  from parents and teachers to community leaders and investors  for public/private partnerships and choice. The Friendship Edison partnership is working!

Since opening, Friendship Edison Public Charter Schools have experienced strong achievement growth and success on standardized test scores. These improvements in national percentile rank are significantly greater than at other D.C. public schools. Since opening its doors in 1998, Chamberlain Elementary campus has increased scores by an average of 38 national percentiles, and Woodridge Elementary campus has raised its scores by an average of 26 percentiles. Blow Pierce Junior Academy campus has raised its scores by an average of 21 percentiles since its opening in fall 1999, and Carter Woodson Senior Academy campus has raised scores by an average of 10 percentiles since opening in fall 2000. Woodson graduated its first high school senior class in June 2003. Both the graduation and college acceptance rate were significantly higher than the D.C. public school average.

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