# Novation Education Opportunities *Charter school authorizer named in a 2026 council-vote fact-check record.* Novation Education Opportunities (NEO) is the authorizer named in a fact-check brief dated 1 September 2026 as the venue for concerns about a charter school's test scores and "academic decline since 2015".[^1] The brief's venue table assigns that concern to "Authorizer: Novation Education Opportunities (NEO); MDE". It lists the city council as the wrong venue, with "no jurisdiction".[^1] Two at-issue items drawn from the same section of the brief describe NEO as the body that "has actual statutory power over this school's fate". They note that a flyer circulated before the council hearing did not name it.[^2][^3] The record does not establish NEO's statutory duties, its governing body, the date it authorized the school, or any decision it has taken about the school.[^1] ## Who NEO appears in the brief's "Right venue" column for test scores and academic decline. It is listed there together with MDE.[^1] The record does not name NEO's officers or board. It does not cite the statute that defines an authorizer's powers.[^1] ## What The brief's table assigns each concern raised about the school to a different body:[^1] - Traffic, parking and student safety at the site go to the city council, as conditions of approval. - Lease terms, rent compared with market, and lease aid go to MDE lease-aid review under [[§ 124E.22]]. - The design of charter law and of lease aid goes to the [[Minnesota Legislature]]. - The religion of students and families is listed with no venue and described as "Not a governmental question." Item AI-Anoka-080 refers to the school's "fifty-point academic slide".[^3] That item lists a single data source, schooldigger.com. The record carries no primary source for the figure, so it is stated here only as the item's claim.[^3] ## When The brief is dated 1 September 2026, and both at-issue items cite its §4.[^1][^2][^3] The record gives no date for NEO's authorization of the school.[^1] ## Where Item AI-Anoka-080 describes NEO as a body "most Coon Rapids residents have never heard of". It places the school's community in [[Coon Rapids]], [[Minnesota]].[^3] Both items are filed in the record's Anoka package.[^2][^3] ## In the at-issue record Item AI-Anoka-029 states that the flyer directed test-score complaints at a city council, "a body with zero jurisdiction over schools". It adds that the flyer never mentioned NEO.[^2] Its listed sources are a Revisor statute page and a charter-school site. Neither URL is carried in the record.[^2] Item AI-Anoka-080 states that NEO was "absent from the flyer, absent from the hearing, and reachable by any resident's letter tomorrow morning".[^3] Both items are anchored to the 2025 presidential action *Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos*. The record links the items to that action under the rationale that "accountability misrouted is accountability defeated".[^4] These are the brief's characterizations, not findings by a court or agency.[^2][^3] ## Notes [^1]: *Council Vote Brief FactCheck* (2026-09-01), §4, *Where each concern actually has a venue* (validated dossier section; no URL in the record) — venue table naming NEO and MDE for test scores and academic decline, MDE lease-aid review under § 124E.22, and the Minnesota Legislature for charter-law design. [^2]: *Council Vote Brief FactCheck* (2026-09-01), §4, at-issue item AI-Anoka-029 (no URL in the record) — states the flyer targeted a council with "zero jurisdiction over schools" and omitted NEO. [^3]: *Council Vote Brief FactCheck* (2026-09-01), §4, at-issue item AI-Anoka-080 (no URL in the record) — states NEO's jurisdiction, the "fifty-point academic slide" (sourced to schooldigger.com), and NEO's absence from the flyer and hearing. [^4]: The White House, *Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos* (March 2025) — the presidential action to which both at-issue items are anchored; cited for the anchor only, not for any fact about NEO. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/stopping-waste-fraud-and-abuse-by-eliminating-information-silos/