U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige today announced the five recipients of nearly $25 million in Charter Schools Facilities Financing Demonstration Program grants that will enable them to assist charter schools in leveraging private and other nonfederal financing to help cover the costs of acquiring, constructing or renovating these custom-designed public schools.

"The organizations receiving these grants will make a world of difference for charter schools that are seeking to provide high quality choices for parents and students," Paige said. "Research shows that one of the biggest challenges for charter schools is finding and affording quality facilities. These grants will help to overcome those challenges by leveraging millions of dollars of private investment for charter school facilities."

Under the Charter Schools Facilities Financing Demonstration Program, the department is authorized to award competitive grants to public entities, nonprofit groups and consortia of these two to demonstrate innovative credit enhancement strategies that assist charter schools in leveraging private sector and other non-federal capital. Grantees will place funds in a reserve account, which will then be used to attract other capital, such as bank loans or bonds, to address the cost of acquiring, constructing or renovating charter schools. However, grantees cannot use the reserve account funds for the direct purchase, lease, renovation or construction of school buildings.

This year marks the 10^th anniversary of the opening of the first charter school. Since then, more than 2,400 charter schools have opened in 34 states and the District of Columbia and educate almost 589,000 children.

In 2002, the Bush Administration is providing $200 million to support charter schools -- a $10 million increase over last year's appropriation. President Bush's proposed 2003 budget continues his commitment to charter schools, proposing $300 million for these innovations, including $200 million to stimulate the planning and start-up of charters and $100 million for the new Credit Enhancement for Charter Schools Program, an expansion of the Charter Schools Facilities Financing Demonstration Program.

"These grants are down payments on the future of charter schools," Paige said. "But in order to truly unleash the potential of these innovative schools, we need Congress to fund the president's request of $100 million for the charter schools credit enhancement program."

Following is the list of grantees for the Charter Schools Facilities Financing Demonstration Program:

America's Charter School Corporation
639 Granite Street, Suite 310
Braintree, Mass. 02184
Contact: Lawrence W. O'Toole, 781-849-8420
Award amount: $4,950,000

Charter Schools Development Corporation
1725 K Street, N.W., Suite 700
Washington, D.C. 20006
Contact: Michelle Gelsino, 202-739-9579
Award amount: $6,400,000

Low Income Housing Fund
1330 Broadway, Suite 600
Oakland, Calif. 94612-2505
Contact: Tom Miller, 510-893-3811
Award amount: $3 million

NCB Development Corporation
1725 Eye Street, N.W., Suite 600
Washington, D.C. 20006
Contact: Annie Donovan, 202-336-7677
Award amount: $6,400,000

Raza Development Fund, Inc.
111 W. Monroe, Suite 1610
Phoenix, Ariz. 85003
Contact: Mark VanBrunt, 602-417-1402
Award amount: $4,200,000

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