The schools that Green Dot operates in California are each named Ánimo, the Spanish word for rigor and strength.

Previously, Green Dot operated three schools in Washington, but closed two of them in 2019 citing financial troubles, and parted ways with the other.

[5][6] Green Dot serves middle and high school students in and around Los Angeles, California.

In 2008, a Los Angeles Times op-ed by Ralph Shaffer, professor emeritus in history at Cal Poly Pomona, raised numerous concerns about plans for Green Dot to "operate Locke High School during the regular school year" and predicted failure.

Countering concerns that Green Dot would simply purge students who proved more challenging to educate, the CRESST Evaluation concludes, "GDL students were very similar to Locke’s demographic profile prior to the GDL transformation, as well as to comparison students from GDL feeder schools who attended three comparison high schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD).