Delaware’s Department of Education received $16 million to invest in the state’s charter schools.
The federal grant will span over five years. One condition is that 90% of the dollars must go towards expanding a charter school, starting a new one, or replicating an existing charter.
DOE partnered with the Delaware Charter Schools Network on the grant for technical assistance and the organization will help with back office support for the grant's operation.
The group’s executive director Kendall Massett said the state is looking to expand charter school reach by about 1,900 kids.
"We have an opportunity to do more for our students that might have larger needs than districts and charters have been able to provide in the past," she said. " (That's) not because they're incapable, but because we just haven't found the right space or way to do it."
One possible use of the funding is to expand or replicate Jobs for Delaware Graduates programming, which currently runs at the Positive Outcomes Charter School in Kent County.
The money can’t be used for ongoing costs or construction. Massett said grant allocations will depend on applications and interest DOE gets from communities, districts, and schools.
Twenty-two of Delaware’s twenty-four charter schools are state authorized.
Massett said some of the money will be set aside for 10 planning grants, which can be up to $100 thousand.
"Say...a community thinks that they want to do this," she said. "There's a lot that goes into that: understanding the community, understanding the need, understanding the different types of schools that would that are needed in that community."
She added a planning grant can also help a district bring in somebody to create a strategic plan on what a new charter school and its implementation might entail.
Applications for the funding will open in the spring. And the first cohort of recipients will get their funding over a three year period.
