The U.S. Department of Education has awarded Louisiana a $23.9 million three-year No Child Left Behind grant to help plan, design, and create new charter schools and increase the school choices that parents have to provide their children, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced today.

Today's grant is in addition to the $20.9 million No Child Left Behind Charter Schools Program grant Louisiana received in September to help reopen charter schools damaged by the hurricanes, create 10 new charter schools, and expand existing charter schools to accommodate displaced students. The U.S. Department of Education also has made more than $1.6 billion in funds in hurricane recovery aid available to reopen schools in the Gulf Coast region and to help educate students across the country who were displaced or impacted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Louisiana is one of nine states receiving funding through the department's Charter Schools Program (CSP), designed to increase national understanding of the charter school model and to expand the number of charter schools available to the nation's students. In addition to providing for the start-up and operation of charter schools, these funds are also used to evaluate charter school effectiveness. The program also aids in the dissemination of information and successful practices.

"Charter schools are empowering parents with new options in public education and as additional educational strategies they're helping to raise achievement in all our public schools," Spellings said. "That's why we're doing everything we can to support existing ones and help build new ones."

The other states receiving grants are Kansas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, South Carolina, and New Mexico.

Charter schools are growing annually between 10-12 percent. The department's program is the most prevalent source of start-up funding for charter schools, with nearly two-thirds having received CSP funds during their start-up phase. The CSP has received more than $1.7 billion from Congress since first being appropriated in 1995 and the department provides some $250 million a year to help sustain and expand charter schools across the nation.

Louisiana will use its grant funds to expand local and national understanding of the charter school model using all five of Louisiana's chartering methods, including the takeover and conversion of failed public schools into independent charters. Louisiana further aims to grant more than 30 charters by the end of 2009.

In addition, Louisiana will seek to raise public awareness of all its charter schools and to deliver technical assistance and subgrant funds to charter developers that are interested in: creating high quality charter schools that will address the unique needs of students - especially in hurricane-stricken areas; focusing on high academic standards; improving student academic achievement; reaching at-risk and disadvantaged pupils; and committing to operate strong, responsive, and fiscally sound charter schools.

Charter schools are independent public schools designed and operated by parents, educators, community leaders, education entrepreneurs and others with a contract, or charter, from a public agency, such as a local or state education agency or an institution of higher education. Charter schools are operated free-of-charge to parents and are open to all students.

These schools provide parents enhanced educational choices within the public school system. Exempt from many statutory and regulatory requirements, charter schools receive increased flexibility in exchange for increased accountability for improving academic achievement. The first U.S. public charter school opened in 1992. Today, more than 3,600 charter schools serve more than a million students in 40 states and Washington, D.C.

More information about the Charter School Program is available at http://www.ed.gov/programs/charter/index.html.

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