Corey Turner

For now, I just want you to know that line she said, we'll make it work.

It's really the mantra of a principal running a cash-strapped school.

But we made it work.

It's easy to see that this school was once beautiful and it remains a cornerstone of the community.

But it needs money.

And twice the district actually asked voters for help for extra money through a bond measure.

But twice voters said no.

Iowa's funding formula, the per student amount, it's lagged inflation for years.

And then there is the money crunch that comes with school choice.

Cedar Rapids has, again, for years been losing students to suburban public schools through the state's open enrollment program.

And now it's losing kids to a brand new charter school and to private schools.

It is.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

And so when I went to Cedar Rapids, my goal was really to visit the competition and to see how this works.

So, Ayesha, I want to start you off here with a visit to that brand new charter school I just mentioned.

How far away is it?

I got a driving tour from Justin Blitz.

He's the charter school's founding principal.

He showed me around the modest industrial town of Cedar Rapids, which by the way, is home of Quaker Oats.