Charter school developers wishing to open charter schools can apply directly to the federal government.  Please see information below.

Two separate competitions allow individual charter schools to apply directly to the Department for funds. The first of these, the Charter Schools Program Non-State Education Agency (non-SEA) Competition, provides start-up funds. The second (Charter Schools Program Non-State Education Agency Dissemination Grant Competition) provides money for established charter schools to disseminate information about their best practices. Charter schools eligible for these two grants must be located in states in which the SEA does not have an approved application under the CSP. Click here for more information on where to apply for start-up and dissemination money for charter school.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

The U.S. Department of Education’s Charter Schools Program has begun accepting applications from Maryland Charter Developers and current Charter Schools for two grant competitions:
 
• The Charter Schools Program Non-State Educational Agencies (Non-SEA) competition (84.282B), which provides grants directly to developers of public charter schools so they can plan, design and complete the initial implementation of high-quality charters; and
• The Charter Schools Program Non-State Educational Agencies (Non-SEA) Dissemination competition (84.282C), which provides grants to public charter schools that allow them to: (1) help other schools adapt the charter’s program; or (2) disseminate information about the charter school. (Charter schools opened three or more years).

FY2012 APPLICATION INFORMATION

• Applications must be submitted electronically through the Grants.gov system at http://www.grants.gov. Please do not e-mail an electronic copy of a grant application to us.
  
• Grants.gov registration may take five or more business days to complete. You may begin working on your application while completing the registration process, but you cannot submit an application until all of the registration steps are complete. For detailed information on the registration steps, please go to: http://www.grants.gov/applicants/organization_registration.jsp. Note: Your organization will need to update its Central Contractor Registry (CCR) registration annually.
  

For printed applications, contact:

LaShawndra Thornton
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Ave., SW
Room 4W257
Washington, DC 20202-5970
Phone: (202) 453-5617
Email: Lashawndra.Thornton@ed.gov

• The Notice Inviting Applications for New Awards for Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 is found at: https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2012/04/13/2012-8980/applications-for-new-awards-charter-schools-program-csp-grants-to-non-state-educational-agency.

NOTE:
**MD applicants must request a waiver from the Federal government in the application. For those seeking planning and/or implementation grants, the waiver request is for P.L. Section 5202 D(1). For any schools wishing to apply for a dissemination grant, the waiver request is for P.L. Section 5202 D(2). (This waiver is included in the body of the application under Application Requirement VII).