The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Innovation and Improvement (OII) has announced a competitive award program for eligible charter schools. The purpose of the Charter School Program (CSP) is to encourage charter schools to partner with other educational agencies (like non-charter schools or non-charter local education agencies) in order to improve schools, examine the impact of charter schools, expand the number of high-quality charter schools, and encourage states to support charter schools.

This is a competitive award program where OII anticipates awards will range between $50,000 and $200,000 and will be awarded to 3 to 5 schools. You can learn more about the CSP in the Federal Register or by visiting http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-07-30/pdf/2012-18577.pdf. Please note that, if you are interested in the CSP grant, you should participate in a pre-application webinar being held on Monday, August 6 from 2:30 to 4:30 pm. OII staff are encouraging individuals to register for the webinar, although registration is not required (instructions for registering for the webinar can be found in the Federal Register).

Deadline for transmitting applications for the CSP is August 29, 2012.

Good luck!

Kirsten