Charter School Grants Announced!

 Charter School Grants Announced!

So far, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) has notified education departments and reform groups in about 10 states that they are the 2023 winners of $147 million federal Charter School Program (CSP) grants. For example, ED is giving a Missouri education reform group called Opportunity Trust $35.6 million to create 5,000 new charter school seats - great news in a state where charter school enrollment has been stalled at about 12,500 students for several years.

In Idaho, Bluum, a nonprofit charter support organization, nailed a second federal CSP grant in the amount of $24.8 million. In 2018, Bluum used a $22 million CSP grant to kick off a rapid expansion of schools, funding 28 schools over five years. Charter schools now educate almost 10% of Idaho’s public school students, and the organization plans to continue rapid growth.

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction yesterday also announced that ED has awarded it a $58 million CSP grant to support the Wisconsin Charter School Program. The five-year grant will help the WCSP implement a statewide strategy to strengthen authorizing, develop up to 42 new, expanded, or replicated high-quality charter schools, and promote statewide collaboration and sharing of best practices. The funding is Wisconsin’s seventh federal grant aimed at supporting public charter school development. Blythe Bernhard, St. Louis Charter Group Wins $35 Million Grant to Open New Schools Across Missouri, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 30, 2023; Darren Svan, School Choice Effort to Continue with $24 Million Federal Grant, IdahoEdnews.com, September 28, 2023; DPI, Wisconsin Awarded $58M Charter School Grant, October 2, 2023

NEW PODCAST AVAILABLE: 
Financing a Start Up Public Charter School in Sacramento
Join School Improvement Partnership (SIP) for a conversation with Robert Nickell, Executive Vice President of Education Finance at HJ Sims, along with Kevin Dobson, Founder & Executive Director, Capital College & Career Academy, on their journey to finance a start-up charter school in Sacramento.

This episode dives into the story of founding, financing and launching a start-up charter school, Capital College & Career Academy (CCCA) in Sacramento, CA. Our guests touch on the qualities of a successful charter school leader, how investors evaluate a start-up, how a school with no students could get 40-year financing, and much, much more!

The Charter School Investor Podcast is created by School Improvement Partnership and hosted by Alan Wohlstetter.
Listen on Spotify, Apple, YouTube or your favorite podcast hosting platform. 

"CHOICE SEATS" FOR FOUR STATES
Massive Charter School Enrollment Growth is the Goal
A Denver foundation wants to help create tens of thousands of new seats in the state’s charter schools and other settings outside district-run public schools at a time when Colorado’s school-age population is shrinking.

The effort, launched by the conservative-leaning Daniels Fund last year, is part of a larger initiative foundation leaders are calling the Education Big Bet. The goal is to put 100,000 more students in what the Daniels Fund calls “choice seats” by 2030 in a four-state region that includes Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and New Mexico. 

The Daniels Fund, which was established with the fortune of the late billionaire cable executive Bill Daniels, is best known for its generous college scholarships. Foundation leaders say if the Big Education Bet is successful, the number of students learning outside district-run public schools will grow from 350,000 to 450,000 across the four states by the end of the decade — a nearly 30% increase. Anne Schimke, Colorado Foundation Bets on New Charter and Private School Seats, The Longmont Leader, September 29, 2023