Charter Schools Program
The Charter Schools Program (CSP) is the nation’s only source of dedicated federal funding to support the creation, expansion, and replication of public charter schools. At its fiscal year (FY) 2023 funding level of $440 million, the CSP amounts to less than 1% of federal spending on K-12 education but has a significant impact on the communities that charter schools serve.
For more than 25 years, the CSP has provided resources to help ensure every child can access a high-quality public education, especially for students with disabilities, English learners, and other historically underserved students. The CSP forms the backbone of the charter school movement, strengthening efforts to provide more equitable opportunities for all students.
Because charter schools cannot access per-pupil funding until students enroll, the CSP provides essential short-term funding to cover school start-up costs. Nearly one-half of charter schools operating today were made possible by CSP funding.
*Puerto Rico, Guam, and the District of Columbia are considered states for the purposes of this document.
*States can have both developer and state entity grants when there are developer grantees that received their awards before the state entity received its grant.
Learn more in the federal charter schoolS program 2023 annual report
The Charter Schools Program (CSP) includes multiple competitions for funds to address the different needs of the charter school community. See the program pages for each competition for more information and to see the most recent grantees:
For Fiscal Year (FY) 2023, the Charter Schools Program is funded at $440 million, the same allocation it has received since FY 2019. That funding is split between five programs:
During the 2023 federal appropriations cycle the CSP faced a huge hurdle.
The U.S. House Appropriations Committee advanced a bill that would have cut CSP funding by $40 million. This came on the heels of an effort by the U.S. Department of Education to make it more difficult for charter schools to access CSP funds–which jeopardized their ability to open, replicate, and expand. To combat this direct attack on charter schools, the National Alliance sprang into action with a robust campaign to educate policymakers, generate high-profile earned media coverage, and use our social media platforms and influence to activists across the nation. Our advocacy campaigns over the past two years netted more than 50,000 emails to members of Congress and 20,000 comment letters to the U.S. Department of Education.
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For questions regarding wire transfers, please email of call Celia Hagerman at celia@publiccharters.org or 202-600-8994.
For questions regarding stock, please email of call Celia Hagerman at celia@publiccharters.org or 202-600-8994.
If you or your spouse work for a company that provides matching gifts, you can make an even bigger impact! To have your gift matched, you must submit your company’s completed matching gift form.
Please send all completed matching gift forms to:
National Alliance for Public Charter Schools
800 Connecticut Ave. N.W. Suite 300
Washington, DC 20006.
If this donation will be potentially matched, please provide the company name.
Contact Celia Hagerman at celia@publiccharters.org or 202-600-8994 to learn more about the Legacy Society or for any other inquiries regarding planned giving.
