U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced today that ten states have been awarded a total of $284 million to help create new charter schools and increase the school choices that parents have to provide to their children.

"As I've traveled around the country, I've had a chance to visit many charter schools. These schools are breaking apart the myth that some children can't learn," Spellings said. "By acting as laboratories for best practices, they are changing attitudes about education and they're getting great results for kids."

The competitive three-year grants are from the Public Charter Schools Program, which supports states' efforts to plan, design, implement, and disseminate information about charter schools.

The following states will receive grants over the next three years totaling:

• Michigan - $21,673,806
• California - $101,681,016
• Massachusetts - $9,000,000
• Ohio - $48,817,5000
• Georgia - $17,010,000
• Indiana - $11,925,284
• Colorado - $20,887,813
• Illinois - $9,917,503
• Texas - $24,625,262
• Maryland - $18,162,528

State educational agencies with a specific statute authorizing charter schools may apply for funding. States must have a charter school law in place to participate. They then make competitive subgrants to developers of charter schools who have applied for a charter. In awarding grants, the Department must give preference to states that provide chartering agencies that are not a local education agency, such as a state chartering board, that have demonstrated progress in increasing the number of high-quality charter schools that are held accountable for reaching clear and measurable objectives, and that give public charter schools a high degree of autonomy over their budgets and expenditures.

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, nearly 4,000 charter schools serve more than one million students in 40 states and Washington, D.C.

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

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