On August 19, 2016 the California Department of Education (CDE) opened the application for the Federal PCSGP Planning & Implementation Grant (also know as the “Start-Up Grant.”) Applications can be submitted thru the deadline date of Friday September 23, 2016.
The Planning & Implementation Grant is a Federal program managed by the CDE and is available to newly established and / or converted charter schools. A school qualifies as “newly established” provided the school did not being serving students prior to July 1, 2015. In addition, the application is available to those that do not yet have an approved charter as long as a charter petition has been submitted to an authorizing agency by the September 23rd deadline.
Grant award amounts are allocated on two distinguishing factors: classroom vs. non-classroom based instruction and the charter school’s student demographic composition. The highest award ($575,000) will be awarded to a classroom based charter school with the majority of students being served from Program Improvement communities. The lowest award ($250,000) will be awarded to Non-Classroom Based charter schools that do not serve a majority of students from at-risk communities.
The application consists of the following components: Program Narrative, Budget Narrative, and School Activity Work Plan. The Program Narrative outlines the charter’s curriculum program, governance structure, and community involvement process. The Budget Narrative details how awarded funds will be spent (on allowable expenditures) over the two-year implementation program. The School Activity Work Plan provides a scheduled timeline for the activities of the Program Narrative and Budget Narrative to be implemented.
Reminder the deadline for all applications is Friday September 23rd, 2016.
More information can be found here: