Charter Schools Program Grants to Charter Management Organizations for the Replication and Expansion of High-Quality Charter Schools (CMO Grants)

What’s New

Announcing New FY 2024 CSP CMO Grant Awards!

On March 29, 2024, the U.S. Department of Education awarded approximately $140 million in new funds through 17 grants under the Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 CSP CMO Grants competition. These funds will be used to replicate and expand high-quality charter schools across the country.

The Notice Inviting Applications (NIA) was published in the Federal Register on September 26, 2023, and closed on January 5, 2024. For more information about the competition and the new awards, please visit the FY 2024 CSP CMO Grants Competition webpage and Awards webpage.

Program Description

The major purposes of the CSP are to:

• Expand opportunities for all students, particularly for children with disabilities, English learners, and other traditionally underserved students, to attend charter schools and meet challenging State academic standards;
• Provide financial assistance for the planning, program design, and initial implementation of charter schools;
• Increase the number of high-quality charter schools available to students across the United States;
• Evaluate the impact of charter schools on student achievement, families, and communities;
• Share best practices between charter schools and other public schools;
• Aid States in providing facilities support to charter schools;
• Support efforts to strengthen the charter school authorizing process; and
• Support quality, accountability, and transparency in the operational performance of all authorized public chartering agencies, including State educational agencies (SEAs) and local educational agencies (LEAs).

The CSP CMO Grant program is authorized under Title IV, Part C of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESEA) (20 U.S.C. 7221-7221j). Through CSP CMO Grants, the Department awards grants to charter management organizations (CMOs) on a competitive basis to enable them to replicate or expand one or more high-quality charter schools. Grant funds may be used to significantly increase the enrollment of, or add one or more grades to, an existing high-quality charter school or to open one or more new charter schools or new campuses of a high-quality charter school based on the educational model of an existing high-quality charter school. Charter schools that receive financial assistance through CSP CMO Grants provide elementary or secondary education programs, or both, and may also serve students in early childhood education programs or postsecondary students, consistent with the terms of their charter.