The Arizona Industrial Development Authority will be the conduit for a $19.5 million bond for construction and improvements at Benjamin Franklin Charter Schools in the southeast Valley.

The board approved the action to allow the chain of charter schools to construct new buildings and make improvements at several campuses. Charter schools, which are publicly funded, do not assess property tax which is an important revenue stream to pay off school construction.

The Benjamin Franklin schools to receive improvements are the Crismon campus at 22120 E Queen Creek Road, Queen Creek; the Gilbert campus at 1475 Val Vista Drive, Gilbert; and the high school campus at 18864 E. Germann Road, Queen Creek.

The Arizona IDA assists in the funding for charter schools around the state to allow them to access the bond markets at a discounted rate.

“Charter schools are an important part of Arizona’s leadership in the school choice movement,” Arizona IDA program manager Patrick Ray said. “Reducing financing costs is an important benefit we offer charter schools to ensure they are spending as much money as possible in the classroom.”

The Arizona IDA is a non-profit corporation formed in 2016 to make home ownership more affordable and issue conduit revenue bonds to lower financing costs for housing and other projects. While the enterprise receives no public funds, its surplus revenues are distributed to the Arizona Housing Trust Fund and Office of Economic Opportunity. Since its inception, the Arizona IDA has delivered about $67 million to the state.