The federal Charter Schools Grant Program's invitational priority is for applicants who will: address parental choice, particularly parents of children in Title 1, Part A schools identified for improvement; develop charter schools in geographic areas where a large number of schools have been identified for improvement, corrective action, or restructuring under Title 1, Part A; and start charter schools in areas where a large proportion of students have difficulty meeting State academic content and student achievement standards. Regrettably, no points are attached to the priority at the federal level. However, applicants who strongly show that their program will assist "educationally disadvantaged and other" students to achieve academic content standards and State student academic achievement standards do receive points.
State Educational Agencies (SEAs) have the capacity to craft their administration of Charter Schools Grant Program funds, within parameters established by federal law, regulation, and policy. In doing so, and in order to be faithful to the spirit of federal law, some states give preference to charter development groups and schools starting schools that will serve "educationally disadvantaged" students. That preference doesn't necessarily preclude grants being awarded to schools developed to serve "...and other" students, but it gives focus and direction to the distribution of funds and the development of schools.
Financial incentives are present for some developers to convert a school to charter status, or to start one for that matter. That incentive is not necessarily bad, in and of itself, if the end result meets federal and state goals for the development of high-quality charter schools. The key is carefully crafted Charter School Grant Program policy that directs grant recipients to the desired end result.
Posted as a reply to:
Concerns re conversions by Joe Nathan
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