Superstellar: The Decider's Guide to Charter School Bonds
What do charter leaders need to know when deciding about financing school facilities with charter school bonds?
Join this briefing for decision-makers at "Superstellar Academy," exploring financial and legal issues critical for school leaders and board members making informed decisions. Presenters will chart the path forward and help board members meet their fiduciary responsibilities. The Academy leader is David Gruber, the real-life Chief Business Officer of the Lewis Center for Educational Research, operating the Academy for Academic Excellence and the Norton Science and Language Academy, both with TK-12 programs emphasizing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.
Participants will also hear from:
- John Phan, an independent fiduciary municipal advisor at The Campanile Group, Inc., who has advised schools in more than 80 charter school bond offerings aggregating more than $1.5 billion,
- John Solarczyk of H.J. Sims, a leading underwriter of charter school bonds nationwide, with over $7 billion funded to date.
- Jessica Shaham, a real-life charter school board member and bond counsel, is a public finance partner at Kutak Rock LLP, focusing on charter schools and other nonprofits, completing over 100 charter school bond issues
- Kevin Davis, a partner on the charter school team at Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch LLP, will represent the Academy as general counsel
- Chip Eady, a member of the infrastructure and public finance group at Nossaman LLP, will serve as the Academy's special finance counsel, with over 12 years' experience working with Procopio's charter school clients
Presented by
Chip Eady
Of Counsel
Nossaman LLP
Chip Eady helps public agencies and nonprofit organizations harness the power of tax-exempt bonds to benefit communities. He has served as bond counsel, underwriter's counsel and borrower's counsel on many hundreds of bond financings over the past 40+ years. His practice at Procopio has focused on charter school bonds. In August 2025, Chip moved to the infrastructure and bond finance group at the law firm Nossaman LLP, where he continues to work with Procopio's charter school team. At Nossaman, Chip's practice extends to all types of public infrastructure, including transportation, water, health care, affordable housing, governmental facilities, climate-adaptive infrastructure and more. He is also an experienced federal securities lawyer, having advised public agencies and nonprofit organizations responding to investigations and examinations involving the Securities and Exchange Commission. Chip has been a member of the National Association of Bond Lawyers (NABL) since 1984.
David Gruber
CBO
Academy for Academic Excellence
David Gruber is the Chief Business Officer for the Lewis Center for Educational Research since 2018. David brings over 20 years of school business experience in both traditional school districts and charter. David has been the principal finance operator for 3 Tax Exempt Bond Issuances ranging from $5.5 million to $43 million dollars.
John Phan
Facilities Financing Advisor
Campanile Group
John Phan is the Founder and Principal of Campanile Group. John began his public finance career over twenty years ago, helping schools, colleges, cities, counties, and water agencies finance their capital projects. John provides fiduciary advisory services to charter schools seeking facility financing. He analyzes and evaluates the financing options available for charter schools, which include: commercial loans, bond financing, tax-exempt loans, NMTC loans, CDFI loans, lease-to-own, etc. He helps secure and manage the financing, as well as negotiate the terms and interest rates with the underwriter/lender on the school’s behalf. Since 2014, John has completed over 80 short and long-term financings for charter schools totaling over $1 billion. These projects have ranged from short-term preconstruction notes to long-term start-up school financings.
John Solarczyk
Ex. Vice President
HJ Sims
John brings more than 30 years of banking experience, including the past 10 years in the educational facilities finance groups of RBC and Ziegler. Up until now, John spent much of his career as a banker at California-based De La Rosa & Co., which he joined in 1993, working as a governmental and education banker. From 2011 through 2014, John was a lead underwriter on one of the most active trading desks in California for De La Rosa & Co., before their merger with Stifel. During that time John participated in more than 100 underwritings of General Obligation Bond offerings for school districts, along with multiple offerings for non-profit facilities for independent and charter schools.
Kevin Davis
Partner
Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch, LLP
I help charter schools build and restructure their organizations, navigate complex compliance regulations, and negotiate for private and Prop. 39 facilities.
