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

What’s New

FY 2024 CMO Grants Competition

On September 26, 2023, the Notice Inviting Applications (NIA) for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Expanding Opportunity Through Quality Charter Schools Program (CSP) – Grants to Charter Management Organizations for the Replication and Expansion of High-Quality Charter Schools (CMO Grants) program was published in the Federal Register.

The NIA can be accessed here. The Department plans to award an estimated $122 million for new CMO grants through this competition. The deadline to submit a grant application under this competition is 11:59:59 p.m. Eastern Time on January 5, 2024.

For more information about this competition, eligibility requirements, and pre-application webinars, please visit the FY 2024 CSP CMO Grants Competition and Applicant Information and Eligibility webpages.

For information to apply to be a competition peer reviewer, please visit the Call for Peer Reviewers webpage.

For information about previous awards, please visit the 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.