Office of Innovation and Improvement (OII): Charter Schools Program (CSP): Grants to State Entities CFDA Number 84.282A | ED GRANTS 122818 001

Opportunity Information: Apply for ED GRANTS 122818 001

The Office of Innovation and Improvement (OII) Charter Schools Program (CSP): Grants to State Entities (CFDA 84.282A) is a discretionary grant competition run by the U.S. Department of Education that funds state-level entities so they can, in turn, make subgrants to charter school developers and operators. The central idea is to use a state entity as the pass-through grantmaker: the Department awards a limited number of large grants to state entities, and those state entities distribute smaller awards to eligible applicants within their states to help launch, replicate, or expand high-quality public charter schools.

The program is built around several core purposes. First, it aims to expand educational opportunities for all students, with an explicit focus on students who have been traditionally underserved, by increasing access to public charter schools that can help students meet challenging state academic standards. Second, it provides financial support for key early-stage work that is often difficult to fund through regular operating dollars, including planning, program design, and initial implementation activities needed before a school can open or during its earliest phase of operation. Third, the program seeks to increase the overall number of high-quality charter schools across the country, emphasizing quality and results rather than growth for its own sake.

Beyond funding new or growing schools, the opportunity also stresses learning and improvement across the public education system. It encourages evaluating the effects of charter schools on student achievement as well as their impacts on families and communities, and it promotes sharing best practices between charter schools and traditional public schools. In addition, it pushes states to address two persistent structural issues in the charter sector: access to adequate facilities and the strength of charter authorizing. The notice highlights encouraging states to provide facilities support to charter schools and supporting efforts to strengthen the charter school authorizing process, which includes improving oversight practices.

In practical terms, funds awarded under the CSP State Entities competition can be used by the state grantee for several connected activities. The primary use is to provide subgrants to eligible applicants for opening and preparing to operate new charter schools, replicating high-quality charter schools (creating additional campuses or schools based on proven models), and expanding high-quality charter schools (increasing enrollment or grade levels, for example). The state entity can also use grant funds to provide technical assistance to both eligible subgrant applicants and to authorized public chartering agencies. That technical assistance is intended to help schools successfully open and operate and to help authorizers improve how they approve, monitor, and hold charter schools accountable. The notice specifically calls out improving authorizing quality and building capacity for fiscal oversight and auditing, signaling that financial management and accountability are a major concern area the program wants to strengthen.

Key administrative details included in the listing are that this opportunity was offered by the Department of Education, categorized as an education grant, with the funding opportunity number ED GRANTS 122818 001. The application package became available on December 28, 2018, and the deadline to submit applications was February 12, 2019. A pre-application webinar was scheduled for January 3, 2019 at 2 p.m. Eastern Time. The listing notes an expectation of 8 awards. The award ceiling is shown as 0 in the summary data, which typically means applicants needed to consult the official Federal Register notice for the actual funding ranges, limits, and detailed budget guidance.

Eligibility in the summary is broadly labeled and points readers to the official notice for clarification, indicating that not all organizations can apply directly. The core applicants are state entities (as defined in the program rules), and those state entities then run subgrant competitions for charter developers/operators and other eligible applicants within the state. Because the summary is explicitly described as only a synopsis, the official Federal Register notice is the controlling document for specifics such as who qualifies as a state entity, what documentation is required, how applications must be submitted, required performance measures, priorities used in scoring, and program contact information. The official notice is available through the Federal Register link provided in the opportunity description.

• The Department of Education in the education sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Office of Innovation and Improvement (OII): Charter Schools Program (CSP): Grants to State Entities CFDA Number 84.282A" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 84.282.
• This funding opportunity was created on Dec 28, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Feb 12, 2019 Applications Available December 28, 2018. Date of Pre-Application Webinar Thursday, January 3, 2019, 2 p.m., Eastern Time. Deadline for Transmittal of Applications February 12, 2019.. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 8 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for ED GRANTS 122818 001

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: