Imagine Schools is a

charter management organization A charter management organization (CMO) is an educational organization that operates charter schools in the United States. Charter schools are public schools that operate independently of the local government school district. A CMO contracts with ...

in the United States, operating 55 schools in 9 states. They are K-8, for the most part. In 2015, Imagine schools had enrolled 29,812 students. Imagine Schools was founded by

Dennis Dennis or Denis is a first or last name from the Greco-Roman name Dionysius, via one of the Christian saints named Dionysius. The name came from Dionysus, the Greek god of ecstatic states, particularly those produced by wine, which is somet ...

and Eileen Bakke with $155 million of the fortune Dennis had earned as

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...

AES Corporation The AES Corporation is an American utility and power generation company. It owns and operates power plants, which it uses to generate and sell electricity to end users and intermediaries like utilities and industrial facilities. AES is headquart ...

, a global energy provider which he co-founded in 1981.

History

Beacon Education Management was founded in 1996. By 2008, Imagine had grown to 56 schools. In 2015, Imagine Schools was ordered to pay a $1 million judgment as part of a self-dealing scheme. As part of a complex arrangement, Imagine Schools had negotiated above market rents for its facilities, which it actually owned through a subsidiary.

Peer group

In 2015, Imagine adopted non-profit tax status. Similar organizations are known as charter management organizations (CMOs). Other large non-profits are

KIPP The Knowledge is Power Program, commonly known as KIPP, is a network of free open-enrollment college-preparatory schools in low income communities throughout the United States. KIPP is America's largest network of charter schools. The head o ...

(209 schools) and Cosmos. Similar services are provided by for-profit entities known as

education management organization An education management organization (EMO) is a term of art describing a for-profit entity that manages schools. It provides a distinction from charter management organization which is a ''non-profit'' manager of charter schools. The terms are oft ...

s (EMOs). K12 was the largest in the US in 2011–2012. K12 does not manage any brick-and-mortar schools, instead delivering schooling on line.

References

Charter management organizations American companies established in 1996 {{US-edu-stub