News

January 20, 2012
USDA Rural Facilities Loan Fund That Charter Schools Have Tapped Quadruples to $1.3 Billion

Funding for a U.S. Department of Agriculture low-interest, direct loan program that charter schools have tapped has increased from about $295 million in 2011 to about $1.3 billion in 2012, and applications are being encouraged, according to the agency.

The Community Facilities Program provides support in rural communities with populations of 20,000 or less.

January 19, 2012
National Report Finds Improved Relationships between Charter Schools and Districts

Charter schools and traditional districts now are “commonly finding themselves sitting down at the bargaining table to work out deals,” an evolution from a relationship that has been marked by antagonism and isolation, according to a new report from the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE).

January 17, 2012
Maine's Charter School Law Tops NAPCS Rankings

The newest state with a charter school law also has the best law, according to a January 2012 report from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (NAPCS).

January 11, 2012
Report Profiles, Compares For-Profit and Nonprofit Education Management Organizations Nationwide

A January 2012 report from the National Educational Education Policy Center and Western Michigan University states that 35 percent of all charter schools in the United States are operated by private education management organizations (EMOs), accounting for about 42 percent of all charter school enrollment.

December 28, 2011
Three Companies Apply to Run Charter School on Naval Station Great Lakes

Three companies have submitted applications to open a K-8 charter school on Naval Station Great Lakes that would enroll up to 500 students, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) and North Chicago Community Unit School District 187 announced.

December 15, 2011
TNTP Announces $25,000 Teacher Prize Program; Up to Five Awards Expected Annually

Public school teachers who “demonstrate exceptionally effective teaching with students from high-poverty communities” are eligible for a $25,000 prize under a new program announced December 13, 2011, by TNTP, a nonprofit organization focused on teacher development.

December 12, 2011
Federal Charter Schools Program Chief Picked As Executive Director of DC Public Charter School Board

Scott Pearson, who most recently served as the Associate Assistant Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education overseeing the federal Charter Schools Program (CSP), has been picked as the DC Public Charter School Board’s (PCSB) new executive director.

December 8, 2011
Gates Foundation Announces $40 Million for Charter-District School Collaboration; 14 Cities Now Have Compacts

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in December 2011 announced the availability of more than $40 million in competitive funding for cities where charter and district school leaders have signed collaboration compacts, and that the number of cities participating in the program has grown to 14.

December 5, 2011
New Guidance on Use of Race to Achieve School Diversity Issued by Departments of Education, Justice

The U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice in December 2011 issued new guidance to explain how “elementary and secondary schools can voluntarily consider race to further compelling interests in achieving diversity and avoiding racial isolation.”

The guidance replaces the August 2008 letter issued by the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights entitled “The Use of Race in Assigning Students to Elementary and Secondary Schools.”

November 28, 2011
33 States, D.C., Participating So Far in National Green Ribbon Schools Pilot Program

Charter schools are eligible for the U.S. Department of Education’s pilot Green Ribbon Schools program and 33 states and Washington, D.C., have indicated they will participate, according to the department.

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