Minnesota Business Academy

St. Paul, MN 55102-1016

Mike Mosedale
City Pages
June 21, 2005

Q: What Happens When You Run a [Charter] School Like a Business? A: You Go Broke.

http://citypages.com/databank/26/1281/article13425.asp

The students learned how to sit in cubicles and write memos. The staff learned how to ask for a bailout

At a time when public schools all over the state have been under siege, the Minnesota Business Academy (MBA) has enjoyed a valuable perk: vocal support from some of the state's most prominent corporations, business people, and politicians.

...[the St Paul] City Council--by a 5-2 margin--agreed to accept the MBA's bailout proposal. That decision wiped the slate clean on $750,000 owed to the city (from a $1 million start-up loan) and it paved the way for the refinancing of about $10 million in other debts.