About Bluum
WE BELIEVE
A robust choice of learning opportunities helps children, families, and educators achieve more and do better
WE ARE COMMITTED
To ensuring that Idaho’s children reach their fullest potential by cultivating great leaders, replicating high-performing school models, and taking risks to develop new approaches so all Idaho students have access to a great education.
BLUUM STRIVES TO
Empower and support educational leaders who take risks and put children first; Grow and replicate high-impact school models; Provide school support and management help; Develop and share effective practices; and Demonstrate mesurable impact program-wide
We empower, invest in, and support educational leaders who take risks and put children first.
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
Bluum provides partner schools with a variety of technical assistance services and supports. These include financial management, facility financing, special education, communications, marketing, governance, and school support. Our goal is to free school leaders to focus on their mission – educating children and serving families.
FACILITIES FUNDING
Bluum’s facility-related technical assistance expands across: (1) the pre-development stage, as schools determine what they can afford, conduct due diligence on potential properties, design their campus, and work to secure construction financing; (2) the build-and-launch stage, as schools secure construction financing, build new or expanded facilities, and grow into their new space; and (3) the long-term-financing stage, when schools typically secure 30-40-year financing via the tax-exempt bond market. Bluum works closely with Building Hope on these efforts.
GRANT MAKING
Since 2015, Bluum has guided the investment of over $100 million into Idaho’s education system, to create more than 19,000 new school seats. In partnership with the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Family Foundation (JKAF), Bluum serves as a funding intermediary to support Idaho-based public charter schools that demonstrate excellence in their performance. Bluum also managed the competitive $22 million Communities of Excellence Federal Charter Schools Program grant, and a new Building on Success for Future Excellence $25 million Federal Charter Schools Program Grant. Bluum also manages a $3.5 million federal Charter School Program Grant for Facilities Credit Enhancement.
FELLOWSHIP
Bluum’s Idaho New School Fellowship provides school leaders a paid, one- or two-year fellowship, giving advanced leadership training and local expertise needed to operate a successful school by planning, developing, and launching a high-performing public school in an underserved Idaho community. This work has supported 34 New School Fellows that’s made possible by JKAF grant support, creating innovative, high-performing schools that prepare a diverse group of students to thrive in a rapidly-changing world.
RESEARCH
Bluum has become a go-to resource on education research and innovation. We aim to share the work of Idaho’s high performing schools and outstanding educators. Our hope is that it can become a national model for helping all children reach their fullest potential. Idaho is well positioned to leap-frog the nation’s top performing states in education for both applying nationally effective practices, as well as supporting novel innovations – especially in rural – that are transferable. We also work to share great ideas and concepts generated from other states which could help the Gem State improve its educational outcomes.