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Payment Shift Is Trouble for Minn. Charter Schools

St. Paul, Minn.

Charter schools in Minnesota are bracing for a cash flow crunch that could determine whether some survive.

In an accounting move that helps the state budget's bottom line, Gov. Tim Pawlenty shifted some funding payments for all schools this year, but charter schools can't access the same kinds of loans that traditional public schools can, and even when they do apply, banks are wary.

"The shift is a huge issue," said Nathan Davis, director of Quest Academy, a charter school in St. Louis Park. "It's taking, in our case, what would be a growing pain and it's created a potential illness of much greater magnitude that looked like it could be...