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Grants and Other Financial Assistance Programs: FY2018

Charter School Significant Expansion Program
Fund Code: 532

Purpose:The purpose of this federally-funded Charter School Program (CSP) grant program is to provide significantly expanding1 Commonwealth and Horace Mann charter schools with funds for the implementation of the charter schools' educational plans, academic goals and objectives, and for meeting expansion related costs.
Priorities: In addition to baseline funding of $300,000, expanding charter schools are eligible for additional funding if they meet specific design priorities described below.

  1. Access and Equity: DESE will provide $175,000 additional CSP grant funding to schools that either:

    1. Commit to backfilling all vacancies through grade 10 in alignment with current backfilling procedures2, or

    2. Possess an explicit mission and educational program designed to:

      1. Specifically serve English language learners, or

      2. Specially serve students who are disconnected, over-age and under-credited, or off-track in their high school education;

  2. Immediate High Impact: DESE will provide $125,000 in additional CSP grant funding to those charter schools that quickly provide new, high-quality educational seats to communities by expanding with at least 250 seats in the first year of the expansion.
Eligibility:Significant Expansion Implementation: These funds are available to charter schools that have been granted an amendment in FY15 and beyond by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to significantly expand.
Funding Type:Federal CFDA: 84.282
Funding: Funding is subject to federal appropriation. Specific grant awards will be sent to eligible charter school under a separate cover. Charter schools can choose to receive their funds over 12 or 24 months. Each allocation, dependent on charter school need is projected to be from approximately $100,000 to $475,000, per year, depending on whether the priorities described above are met, including the "Immediate High Impact" priority and the Access and Equity priorities. Specific grant awards will be sent to eligible charter school under a separate cover. Charter schools can choose to receive their funds over 12 or 24 months.

Funding is contingent upon availability. All dollar amounts listed are estimated/approximate and are subject to change. If more funding is to become available it will be distributed under the same guideline as listed in the initial RFP document.
Fund Use: All spending must be consistent with applicable state and federal regulations and guidelines. Schools are given discretion on how to spend their grant funds for implementation of their charter expansion as granted by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, as long as the requirements and monitoring benchmarks are met throughout the grant cycle. This grant must be used for actual expansion implementation costs and cannot be used for any type of construction or building improvements or to purchase food. More information on how the grant can be spent can be found in Part II - Required Program Information and in the CSP non-regulatory guidance.

Indirect costs may not be charged to these grants.
Project Duration:9/1/2017 - 8/31/2018

Program Unit:Office of Charter Schools and School Redesign
Contacts: Joanna Laghetto
Phone Number:(781) 338-3221
Date Due:Thursday August 31, 2017

Required Documents:
Download Excel Document
Part I Signature Page
Additional Information:
Download Word Document
Part II - Required Program Information
Submission Instructions: Submit all required grant materials through EdGrants

In EdGrants, districts are required to create and name the project. Please use the following naming convention for your "Applicant Project Name" in EdGrants:
FY18 535 CSP Grant Applicant Name.

All required forms should be uploaded / attached in the Attachments List formlet of the Application Submission. This includes a signed / scanned PDF of Part I / Coversheet with School Leader's signature and Schedule A form, if applicable to your district.

For Guidance Documents regarding EdGrants, visit EdGrants: User Guides and Information.

Please note: It is up to the school to determine who they want to add as EdGrants Front Office users in order to submit the grant application as well as payment request information. Please review the EdGrants: User Security Controls document to make informed decisions regarding assigning your district level users.

Note:

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1 Significant expansion is defined as a school that has been granted an amendment by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education for (1) an increase in the student count of an existing charter school by more than 50 percent; or (2) an addition to an existing charter school of at least two consecutive grades; or (3) for an existing charter school with multiple campuses serving overlapping grades, meeting (1) or (2) for the campus with the largest enrollment.

1 Currently, Massachusetts charter schools are only required to backfill half of the grades that they serve, and high schools are only required to backfill in grade 9.