SBA 504 Charter School Feasibility Study in Florida

Florida is third among states for 504 school loans by loan count, and this cell is where the difference between a charter school and a typical commercial borrower becomes visible. The cell holds 43 loans and $53.8 million over FY2017 to FY2026, with a median of $1.2 million, 1.01x the nationwide 504 school median, with the central half running from $623,000 to $1.7 million. Within Florida the class is 15 of 39. Franchising touches 11.6% of loans.

Why the class is unusual

Private schools and charter schools share one code, and because most charter operators are nonprofit bodies that SBA does not finance, the data cannot isolate them. The loans in this cell are therefore the for-profit slice: privately owned schools and the few for-profit operators of charter campuses. A lender or borrower should not take the numbers as a picture of charter school finance in Florida as a whole. A study for a school should say which structure is proposed and whether the borrower is eligible at all.

Three development companies

Florida Business Development Corporation holds 23 loans and $30.6 million, Florida First Capital Finance Corporation, Inc. 15 and $16.7 million, with Sunshine State Economic Development Corporation behind on 5 and $6.5 million. The numbers describe who holds paper and imply no verdict. Miami-Dade has 8 loans and Hillsborough 7, followed by Orange and Palm Beach with 4, Seminole with 3, and Alachua, Broward, Pasco, Saint Johns and Saint Lucie with 2.

Years and rates not shown

The year with the most activity was FY2025, with 10 loans and $14.9 million. Before that, counts were 3, 2 and 1 for FY2017 to FY2019, 4 and 6 in FY2020 and FY2021, none in FY2022, then 5 and 8. FY2026 shows 4 loans and $3.3 million. Florida's cancellation and loss rates are both suppressed, the underlying cohorts being too short of loans to publish, and neither suppression implies zero.

What a Florida school study must prove

A school study begins with enrolment: how many families in the catchment would choose the school, at what tuition or per-pupil funding, and with what competing seats. It then tests licensing and accreditation, building code for educational occupancy, staffing, and the lease-up of classrooms across grades. Because a school building is hard to use for anything else, the appraisal should examine value in alternative use, and coverage should be run with enrolment below plan in the first years.