News & Press

Office of Innovation and Improvement
Overview Information: Charter School Programs (CSP)
Notice Inviting Applications for New Awards for Fiscal Year 2009

Purpose of Program: The purpose of the CSP is to increase national understanding of the charter school model and to expand the number of high-quality charter schools available to students across the Nation by providing financial assistance for the planning, program design, and initial implementation of charter schools, and to evaluate the effects of charter schools, including their effects on students, student academic achievement, staff, and parents. The Secretary awards grants to State educational agencies (SEAs) to enable them to conduct charter school programs in their States. SEAs use their CSP funds to award subgrants to non-SEA eligible applicants for planning, program design, and initial implementation of a charter school, and to support the dissemination of
information about, including information on successful practices in, charter schools.

Type of Award: Discretionary grants.
Estimated Available Funds: The Administration has requested $95,838,000 for new awards for the Charter School Programs for FY 2009, of which we intend to use an estimated $91,000,000 for this competition. The actual level of funding, if any, depends on final congressional action. However, we are inviting applications to allow
enough time to complete the grant process before the end of the current
fiscal year, if Congress appropriates funds for this program.
Estimated Range of Awards: $500,000–$10,000,000 per year.
Estimated Average Size of Awards: $5,000,000 per year.
Estimated Number of Awards: 6–10.
Project Period: Up to 36 months.
Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: January 29, 2009

For the complete announcement please click here.