Federal grants already help fund the creation and expansion of charter schools, but this bill tweaks the program to better support educators who want to start new ones. It creates a new category of "pre-charter planning" grants — up to $100,000 each — specifically for school developers led by educators with at least 54 months of classroom or school-based experience. It also allows state entities to fund revolving loan programs and help charter applicants find facilities. The bill adjusts how federal charter school grant money is divided, carving out up to 5% for these planning grants while keeping most funding for existing startup and expansion efforts.
Congressional Summary
This bill makes changes to the Charter Schools Program (CSP), which authorizes competitive grants to state entities (e.g., state educational agencies and state charter school boards) to support high-quality charter schools. Specifically, the bill allows state entities to use up to 5% of their CSP grant funds to make pre-charter planning subgrants to certain prospective charter applicants.The bill specifies that state entities may also (1) fund a revolving loan fund or similar mechanisms for the expenses of eligible applicants prior to receiving CSP subgrants, and (2) provide assistance to eligible applicants in locating and accessing a charter school facility.Under the current CSP, state entities must use at least 7% of their CSP grant funds to provide technical assistance to eligible applicants and authorized public chartering agencies. The bill instead allows state entities to use not more than 10% of these funds for technical assistance.
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Action Date
- Date Added
- 2026-04-02
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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