For Immediate Release | October 9, 2014
Today, the U.S. Department of Education announced new grants to help expand and open high-quality public charter schools across the nation. These grants specifically provide support to charter schools that are committed to increasing the academic success of students from traditionally underserved communities.
Six public charter schools in Washington state received grants under the federal Charter Schools Program (CSP): Excel Public Charter School, First Place Scholars Charter School, Green Dot Public Schools, PRIDE Prep Schools, Rainier Prep, and SOAR Academies.
Planning, Program Design, and Implementation Grantees
Five locally grown charter schools will receive a total of $1.12 million over the next year to help with start-up costs. These funds will help schools with essential costs such as facilities, recruiting quality staff, and technology purchases.
| NAME | YEAR 1 FUNDING |
| Excel Public Charter School | $200,000 |
| First Place Scholars Charter School | $200,000 |
| PRIDE Prep Schools | $250,000 |
| Rainier Prep | $249,860 |
| SOAR Academies | $222,746 |
Replication and Expansion of High Quality Charter Schools Grantee
Another $2.5 million over 3 years will help Green Dot Public Schools—a high-quality charter management organization with proven results across the country—expand into Washington state. Green Dot has already been authorized to open a middle school in Tacoma in the 2015-16 school year, and will learn tomorrow whether a second application was approved to open a public charter school in South Seattle for the 2016-17 school year.
| NAME | FUNDING OVER 3 YEARS (for WA state schools) |
| Green Dot Public Schools | $2.5 million |
WA Charters CEO Thomas Franta issued the following statement:
“We are committed to giving families access to a range of high-quality public school options so they can make the best educational choices for their child. These CSP grants will help the schools and their students start off strong in 2015. In addition, the infusion of federal dollars will begin to fill the gap that exists because public charter schools in Washington do not receive equitable governmental funding, as compared to their traditional public school counterparts.
With nearly one-third of all CSP planning grants going to charter schools in Washington state, the federal Department of Education is sending a strong signal about both the quality of our approved schools and the legitimacy of the state’s charter school law.”
To learn more about approved public charter schools in Washington state, please visit: https://wacharters.org/schools.