Credit Enhancement for Charter School Facilities Program

What's New

Call for Peer Reviewers 

The CSP Division seeks individuals from various educational backgrounds, professions and regions to serve as peer reviewers to assess Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 grant applications. Specifically, we are seeking peer reviewers for grants for Credit Enhancement (CE) Grant Program Assistance Listing Number (ALN) 84.354A. The peer review process is designed to identify and fund the highest-quality applications and create opportunities for the general public to participate in government and gain insight into the federal funding process. 

For more information, please review the Call for Peer Reviewers.

Announcing New Fiscal Year 2025 CSP Credit Enhancement Grant Awards! 

On May 16, 2025,  the U.S. Department of Education awarded approximately $60,000,000 in new funds through five grants. 

For more information about the new awards, please visit the FY 2025 CSP Credit Enhancement Award tab.

Program Description

Aligned with the Trump Administration’s focus on educational excellence and opportunity, the Charter Schools Program (CSP) expands education choice by providing more schooling options to students, particularly those that reside in failing districts. The six grant programs available through the CSP increase the number of high-quality charter schools available to students across the Nation and empower parents to select the schooling option that best fits their child’s unique needs. This program supports excellence, accountability, and transparency in the operational performance of all authorized public chartering agencies.  

The purpose of the Credit Enhancement program is to award grants to eligible entities that demonstrate innovative methods of helping charter schools address the cost of acquiring, constructing, and renovating facilities by enhancing the availability of loans and bond financing.

This program provides grants to eligible entities to permit them to enhance the credit of charter schools so the charter schools can access private-sector and other non-Federal capital in order to acquire, construct, and renovate facilities at a reasonable cost.

CSP ensures that children in our Nation receive an education that best fits their unique needs, enabling them to learn, grow, and thrive, regardless of income or zip code.

Objective

An eligible entity receiving a grant must use the funds deposited in the reserve account to assist one or more charter schools to access private-sector capital to accomplish one or more of the following objectives: 

• The acquisition (by purchase, lease, donation, or otherwise) of an interest (including an interest held by a third party for the benefit of a charter school) in improved or unimproved real property that is necessary to commence or continue the operation of a charter school. 
• The construction of new facilities, or the renovation, repair, or alteration of existing facilities, necessary to commence or continue the operation of a charter school. 
• The pre-development costs required to assess sites and to commence or continue the operation of a charter school.  

Permissible Uses of Reserve Account Funds

An eligible entity receiving a grant shall, in accordance with State and local law, directly or indirectly, alone or in collaboration with others, deposit the funds received (other than funds used for administrative costs), in a reserve account established and maintained by the eligible entity. Amounts deposited in such account shall be used by the eligible entity for one or more of the following purposes:

• Guaranteeing, insuring, and re-insuring bonds, notes, evidences of debt, loans, and interests therein.
• Guaranteeing and insuring leases of personal and real property.
• Facilitating financing by identifying potential lending sources, encouraging private lending, and other similar activities that directly promote lending to, or for the benefit of, charter schools.
• Facilitating the issuance of bonds by charter schools, or by other public entities for the benefit of charter schools, by providing technical, administrative, and other appropriate assistance (including the recruitment of bond counsel, underwriters, and potential investors and the consolidation of multiple charter school projects within a single bond issue).

Funds received and deposited in the reserve account shall be invested in obligations issued or guaranteed by the United States or a State, or in other similarly low-risk securities. Any earnings on funds received shall be deposited in the reserve account and used in accordance with this program.

Impermissible Uses of Reserve Account Funds

Grantees may not use reserve account funds to:

• Directly pay for a charter school's construction, renovation, repair, or acquisition.
• Provide a down payment on facilities in order to secure loans for charter schools.

A grantee may, however, use funds to guarantee a loan for the portion of the loan that would otherwise have to be funded with a down payment.

Applicant Information

The Notice Inviting Applications (NIA) for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Expanding Opportunity through Quality Charter Schools Program- Credit Enhancement (CE) Program was published in the Federal Register on May 16, 2025. The deadline for submission of a grant application under this competition is 11:59:59p.m. ET on June 25, 2025.

FY 2025 CSP CE Notice Inviting Applications

Posted in the Federal Register on May 16, 2025 PDF | HTML
 

FY 2025 Credit Enhancement (CE) Program Competition Timeline

Deadline for Notice of Intent to Apply (optional): June 16, 2025  

Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: June 25, 2025

Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: August 24, 2025

FY 2025 Competition Information

FY 2025 Pre Application Webinar – Credit Enhancement Overview: This webinar will be held on May 29th, 2025, from 1:30 – 3:00 PM ET. During this webinar the U.S. Department of Education (Department) will review provide an overview of the eligibility requirements, application requirements, and selection criteria.

• Recording
• Slides
• Transcript

FY 2025 Pre-Application Resource – Objectives and Performance Measures: This pre-recorded webinar is designed to help potential applicants prepare objectives and performance measures.

• Recording
• Slides
• Transcript

Application Package and Submission:

• CE Application Package Instructions: Please note this is an electronic copy for you to download and use as a guide only. 
• 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 U.S. Department of Education staff. 

Required Application Forms:

Note: Most of the forms listed below are in the electronic application package in Grants.gov. The following is a list of the required forms that must be completed.

• Project Abstract –  Mandatory
• Project Narrative – Mandatory
• Budget Narrative – Mandatory
   
• Required Standard Forms, Assurances and Certifications             
  • SF 424 Form – Application Form for Federal Assistance; - Mandatory
  • ED Supplemental Form for SF 424; - Mandatory 
  • ED 524 Form and Instructions – Budget Information, Non-Construction Programs -  Sections A & B only; - Mandatory 
  • SF-LLL – Disclosure of Lobbying Activities; - Optional
  • General Education Provisions Act (GEPA) Requirements –  Section 427; - Mandatory 
  • Grants.gov Lobby Form (ED80-0013) - Mandatory
     
• Other Attachments and Forms – where applicants provide other required items and supplementary documents, including:
  • Table 1 - Non-Grant Funds Projected to be Generated 
  • Table 2 - Applicant Activity Table for the Most Recently Completed Fiscal Year 
  • Table 3 – Budget Form Grant Fund Expenditures
  • Table 4 - Risk Level of Charter Schools Served (required of past grantees only) 
  • Consortium agreements, if applicable  
  • Resumes/Curriculum Vitae 
  • Other Supplementary Documents (example: letters of commitment from financial partners) 

Registering on Grants.gov and SAM.gov:

REGISTER EARLY – Grants.gov registration involves many steps including registration on SAM (SAM.gov), which usually takes approximately 7 to 10 business days, but can take longer depending on the completeness and accuracy of the data entered into the SAM database by an applicant.

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.

Please note that once your SAM registration is active, it will take 24-48 hours for the information to be available in Grants.gov, and before you can submit an application through Grants.gov.

For detailed information on the Registration Steps, please go to here. Please note that your organization will need to update its SAM registration annually.

To register in SAM.gov, click on the “Get Started” link under the “Register Your Entity…” heading in SAM.gov.

Grantees, and other entities wanting to do business with the U.S. Department of Education (e.g., entities applying for a grant), that are not already registered in SAM.gov must complete the “Register Entity” registration option and NOT the “Get a Unique Entity ID” option. The “Get a Unique Entity ID” option, which is not a full registration, is only available to entities for reporting purposes. Failing to complete the “Register Entity” option may result in loss of funding, loss of applicant eligibility, and/or delays in receiving a grant award.

Information about SAM is available at SAM.gov. To further assist you with registering in SAM or updating your existing SAM registration, see the Quick Start Guide for Grant Registrations and the Entity Registration Video here.

FY 2025 CSP CE Grant Eligibility Information

1.  Eligible Applicants:  (a) A public entity, such as a State or local governmental entity; (b) A private, nonprofit entity; or (c) A consortium of entities described in (a) and (b). 

Note:  If you are a nonprofit organization, under 34 CFR 75.51, you may demonstrate your nonprofit status by providing: (1) proof that the Internal Revenue Service currently recognizes the applicant as an organization to which contributions are tax deductible under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code; (2) a statement from a State taxing body or the State attorney general certifying that the organization is a nonprofit organization operating within the State and that no part of its net earnings may lawfully benefit any private shareholder or individual; (3) a certified copy of the applicant's certificate of incorporation or similar document if it clearly establishes the nonprofit status of the applicant; or (4) any item described above if that item applies to a State or national parent organization, together with a statement by the State or parent organization that the applicant is a local nonprofit affiliate.

2.  a. Cost Sharing or Matching: This competition does not require cost sharing or matching.

b.  Indirect Cost Rate Information:  This program uses an unrestricted indirect cost rate.  For more information regarding indirect costs, or to obtain a negotiated indirect cost rate, please see https://www.ed.gov/about/ed-offices/ofo#Indirect-Cost-Division.  

c.  Administrative Cost Limitation: Consistent with section 4304(g) of the ESEA (20 U.S.C. 7221c(g)), an eligible entity may use not more than 2.5 percent of the funds received under this program for the administrative costs of carrying out its responsibilities under this program.  

3.         Subgrantees:  A grantee under this competition may not award subgrants to entities to directly carry out project activities described in its application.

Other: The charter schools that a grantee selects to benefit from this program must meet the definition of charter school in the CSP authorizing statute throughout the grant period. The definitions of charter school, per-pupil facilities aid programs, and authorized public chartering agency are in sections 4310(2), 4304(k)(1), and 4310(1) of the ESEA (20 U.S.C. 7221), and included in this notice

FY 2025 CSP Call for Peer Reviewers

Application Information

The Notice Inviting Applications (NIA) for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Expanding Opportunity through Quality Charter Schools Program- Credit Enhancement (CE) Program was published in the Federal Register on May 16, 2025. The deadline for submission of a grant application under this competition is 11:59:59p.m. ET on June 25, 2025.

Additional competition information can be accessed on the  FY 2025 Expanding Opportunity through Quality Charter Schools Program-Credit Enhancement (CE) Program Competition tab.

Eligibility

Eligible applicants include public entities (such as state or local government entities), private nonprofit entities, or a consortium of such entities.

Included in the chart below is the amount of funding per fiscal year since 2001.

Legislation, Regulations, and Guidance

• The U.S. Secretary of Education is authorized to award grants for this competition under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (ESSA) (20 U.S.C. 7221c). For program legislation visit: 20 USC 7221c.
• For grant regulations contained in EDGAR (Education Department General Administrative Regulations) go to: http://www2.ed.gov/policy/fund/reg/edgarReg/edgar.html.
• Credit Enhancement Program Regulations can be found at: eCFR :: 34 CFR Part 225 -- Credit Enhancement for Charter School Facilities Program.
• The guidance for the Credit Enhancement for Charter School Facilities program can be found at: MS Word (216K) | PDF (148K).

Complete List of Credit Enhancement for Charter School Facilities Grants

Included below is information regarding the new awards made in each fiscal year since 2009.

Awards Table Instructions: Please use the scroll bar at the bottom of the Awards tab to view the entire Awards table.