Meyer to lead new nonprofit that helps develop charters in B.R.

Today is the last day of work for Chris Meyer, deputy superintendent of the state’s Recovery School District. Beginning Monday he’ll take over at the helm of New Schools for Baton Rouge, a new, nonprofit organization that will help facilitate the development of charter schools in Baton Rouge. “We are basically going to be an intermediary between government and entrepreneurial school leaders,” says Meyer, who served as policy director under Paul Pastorek in the Louisiana Department of Education prior to working with the RSD. “We help create reform in the market by bringing new school operators in to help develop local leaders and create excellent schools.” Specifically, New Schools for Baton Rouge will function like a venture capital firm for philanthropy—what some cities are calling “venture philanthropies”—by raising money from public and private sources to invest in developing charter schools. The organization will carefully vet the groups that apply for charters and work closely with those that get charters to ensure “the schools deliver on their promise,” Meyer says. The organization aims to raise between $25 million and $30 million in its first five years, and plans to concentrate on bringing charter education to 20 low-performing schools in north Baton Rouge. “It’s really interesting,” Meyer says. “The lowest-performing schools in Baton Rouge all reside in this three–ZIP code area in north Baton Rouge, which is also one of the worst-performing areas in the state.” New Schools for Baton Rouge is the brainchild of the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, which has provided the funds to get it off the ground. It is patterned after New Schools for New Orleans, which was formed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and has been instrumental in bringing successful charter schools to New Orleans. —Stephanie Riegel