Bluum As A School Support Organization: Comprehensive Support For Charter Success

In the complex world of charter school development, the difference between success and failure can hinge on the availability of expert support.Bluum has distinguished itself by creating a comprehensive support ecosystem that school leaders consistently described as indispensable to their success, and nearly impossible to replicate without the organization’s resources and deep expertise.

Marc Carignan, Bluum’s CFO, oversees operations supporting 11 active schools and five schools in development. “We’re paying about 1,000 people a month right now across the schools that we do the direct payroll for and then make sure that all the payments are made timely to insurance providers and other vendors,” Carignan said.

This scope of support, provided by just five staff members plus Carignan, speaks to both the efficiency of Bluum’s systems and the depth of assistance they provide.

Bluum has distinguished itself by creating a comprehensive support ecosystem that school leaders consistently described as indispensable to their success, and nearly impossible to replicate without the organization’s resources and deep expertise.

Tiered support model

Bluum organizes its support around three distinct categories of schools, each requiring different levels of assistance. The first group includes single-site schools or emerging networks that need comprehensive support, from pre-launch through daily operations. “We provide full back-office support, a lot of other supports. They’re typically single-site schools, or they’re single sites that are developing into multi-site schools, but they’re still highly dependent on our support,” Carignan said.

All of this support is funded 100 percent by JKAF. Schools are not charged for this support or any support they receive from Bluum. Through the generosity of JKAF, Bluum is a free good to its partner schools. This funder/school support relationship is unique and not common in other states or cities.

The second group of partners comprises established networks like Gem Prep, Elevate Academy, and American Classical Schools of Idaho, which have developed their own internal systems but still require some support. The third group includes schools receiving only federal Charter School Program funds. They receive minimal financial management support from Bluum.

Fellowship: The foundation year

The support process begins with Bluum’s Idaho New School Fellowship program, a yearlong, or in some cases a two-year long, intensive preparation that helps aspiring school leaders navigate the complex path from concept to charter approval.

“The fellowship is about giving them time to work with us to figure all this out,” Carignan said. “The goal at the end of the fellowship is for the fellow or fellows to have written their charter, received their charter approval from their authorizer, identified where they’re going to build a school, started the process of initiating contracts for land, started the process of procurement to determine who’s going to build the building.”

During this crucial year, fellows work closely with Bluum to develop sustainable budgeting models, navigate financing options, and ensure their educational vision aligns with financial reality. The organization’s rigorous evaluation process sometimes means saying no when the numbers don’t work.

Carignan cited one fellowship where the fellow wanted to open a school in a remorse rural area. “We did all the budgeting, we did all the analysis, and we basically said we can’t figure this out. Mathematically, it doesn’t work,” Carignan said, highlighting Bluum’s commitment to sustainability over expansion.

According to Terry Ryan, Bluum’s fellowship is batting about .600. Four in ten fellows either didn’t open a school or left soon after opening a school and had to be replaced. Ryan sees this as further testament to the genius of JKAF accepting failure as a key part of their support for Bluum. “Better they fail up front than when they have made promises and commitments to students, families and funders they can’t meet,” Ryan said.

Comprehensive back-office operations

For schools requiring full support, Bluum provides what amounts to a complete administrative infrastructure that would otherwise be prohibitively expensive for single-site schools.

The support encompasses:

Monthly payroll processing and benefits administration
State and federal compliance reporting
Financial statement preparation and audit coordination
Strategic thinking, school facilities and finances
Special education support coordination
Marketing assistance

Schools must submit data to the state seven times annually, with each submission involving approximately 300 different fields of data covering student enrollment, attendance, staff information, and financial data. Bluum helps schools navigate these technical requirements while maintaining focus on education.

Beyond financial management

Bluum’s support extends well beyond financial transactions to include strategic guidance and problem-solving. Ronda Baines, instrumental in establishing Treasure Valley Classical Academy in the small town of Fruitland, described how Bluum’s involvement transformed what seemed like an impossible project into reality. “We didn’t realize that Bluum existed. We didn’t know what resources were available to us… We would not have that building if Bluum had not come into our lives,” Baines said, referring to the historic school building they acquired for just $250,000 and renovated with Bluum and Building Hope’s assistance.

The support often includes creative solutions to complex challenges. When Elevate Academy needed a CFO but couldn’t afford to hire one immediately, Bluum arranged a finance fellowship that allowed them to develop internal expertise. This innovative approach helped Elevate build capacity while maintaining the high-level support they needed.

In 2025, Bluum is sponsoring two Special Education fellows to work with school partners. Special education is another serious pain point for Idaho’s public charter schools. Bluum now has a team of four special education experts supporting schools across Idaho led by veteran special educator Jennifer Ribordy.

As Idaho’s charter school sector continues to grow, Bluum’s role as a support organization demonstrates how comprehensive assistance, when properly structured and efficiently delivered, can enable educational innovation that might otherwise fail due to administrative complexity and expense alone.

Efficiency through experience

Carignan’s pre-Bluum background in manufacturing and enterprise management helped shaped the organization’s approach to systematizing complex processes and creating efficiencies.

“When you benchmark us against for-profit backoffice support organizations… their ratio is about one staff per client. We’re doing it at about .5,” Carignan said. This efficiency comes from deep understanding of Idaho’s educational system, technology investments, and systematic approaches to common challenges.

The value proposition

As noted previously, Bluum provides these services at no cost to partner schools. This approach allows schools to invest their limited resources directly into education rather than administrative overhead. School leaders consistently described this support as a major difference between success and failure.