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.

The two new cities announced by the foundation are Chicago, with the compact posted on the Chicago Public Schools website, and Spring Branch, Texas, with the compact posted on the Spring Branch Independent School District (SBISD) website. The Spring Branch compact involves the district and KIPP Houston and YES Prep Public Schools.

The other cities are Baltimore; Boston; Central Falls, Rhode Island; Denver; Hartford, Connecticut; Los Angeles; Minneapolis; Nashville, Tennessee; New Orleans; New York; Rochester, New York; and Sacramento, California.