Washington, D.C. – Today the U.S. Department of Education announced its Charter Schools Program (CSP) State Educational Agency (SEA) grants as well as its Replication and Expansion of High-Quality Charter Schools grants totaling more than $157 million to seven states and the District of Columbia and 12 charter management organizations to promote the growth of high-quality charter schools.
The SEA grantees include the Arizona Department of Education, the Colorado Department of Education, the Illinois Department of Education, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (District of Columbia), the Ohio Department of Education, the Oregon Department of Education, the Nevada Department of Education, and the South Carolina Department of Education. The CSP grants will provide financial assistance for the planning, program design, and initial implementation of charter schools in these states.
Achievement First, Inc., Across the Bridge Foundation, Baltimore Curriculum Project, Einstein Group, Inc., Lawndale Educational and Regional Network, Mastery Charter High School, Noble Network of Charter Schools, RePublic Schools, Success Academy Charter Schools, Inc., UP Education Network, Inc., Uplift Education, and West Denver Prep STRIVE Preparatory Schools will receive funds to replicate or expand their existing network of high-performing charter schools. The criteria for CSP grants to charter management organizations includes demonstrated success of improving student achievement.
“We congratulate the Charter Schools Program grant recipients and applaud the U.S. Department of Education for its continued investment in expanding effective public charter school choices for more students and parents,” said Nina Rees, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.
In the announcement, the Department recognized the improvements seen across the public charter school movement. The National Alliances annual model law rankings report shows that 28 states have made significant progress in strengthening public charter school and authorizer accountability.
Further, public charter school student achievement has grown in recent years. The 2013 Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) study found that the percentage of charter schools outperforming traditional public schools grew from 17 percent in 2009 to 29 percent in 2013, which the authors attributed to improved accountability. Growing student achievement has led to increased parental demand for the high-quality charter schools often supported by the Departments CSP grants.
The CSP grants provide critical funding to support new public charter schools and to increase the capacity of public charter schools that have a proven track record of success, Rees added. With nearly one million student names on charter school wait lists across the country, these funds will help meet the growing parental demand for high-quality public school options.
About Public Charter SchoolsPublic charter schools are independent, public, and tuition-free schools that are given the freedom to be more innovative while being held accountable for advancing student achievement. Since 2010, manyresearch studieshavefound that students in charter schools do better in school than their traditional school peers. For example, one study by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford University found that charter schools do a better job teaching low income students, minority students, and students who are still learning English than traditional schools. Separate studies by the Center on Reinventing Public Education and Mathematica Policy Research have found that charter school students are more likely to graduate from high school, go on to college, stay in college and have higher earnings in early adulthood.About the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools
The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools is the leading national nonprofit organization committed to advancing the public charter school movement. Our mission is to lead public education to unprecedented levels of academic achievement by fostering a strong charter sector. For more information, please visitwww.publiccharters.org.
