FY11 BUDGET: A FIRST LOOK

Obama’s FY2011 budget request looks to be a major boost for charters but don’t pop the cork just yet.  This is just the beginning of the long, long budget process -- and the proposal itself is more complicated than usual.  Currently, the three charter programs (startup grants and two facilities programs) are getting $256 million – and in FY2010 the Department was also granted the ability to use federal start-up  funds to support replicating and expanding successful charters.  With the FY11 proposal, it’s a whole new game.  The charter programs got consolidated into a $490 million program called “Expanding Educational Options” that now includes support for “autonomous public schools” as well as Public School Choice, Smaller Learning Communities, and Parental Information efforts. There’s no set amount that is strictly for public charter schools – which needs attention -- but in the voluminous materials released today there are some interesting signals about how the increased funding might flow.  For example, there’s a chart showing what will be funded if ESEA isn’t reauthorized before the appropriations process is done, and charter school programs (i.e., the same line-item as this year) are pegged at $310 million. That would be a $54 million increase from this year, and another step toward fulfilling the President’s promise to double charter funding during his term.

We’ll have more detail tomorrow.