The U.S. Department of Education announced today a $4 million grant competition for planning and launching high-quality public charter schools through the non-state educational agency grant program. In addition, operators of existing high-quality public charter schools can receive funding to share information with other schools about best practices.

"New charter schools across the country can serve the students who need high-quality public schools the most," said Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation and Improvement Nadya Chinoy Dabby. "These start-up funds help local educators design innovative new schools that serve their community."

The Department's Charter Schools Program has supported the launch of thousands of public charter schools across the country focused on high-need students. The purpose of the program is to increase financial support for the startup and expansion of these public schools, build a better national understanding of the public charter school model and increase the number of high-quality public charter schools across the nation.

Applications for the non-state educational agency grant program are due Oct. 6, 2015 at 4:30 p.m. ET and details are available in the Federal Register notice. Grantees will be announced in December. To learn more, visit the non-state educational agency grant program page and this blog post.

The state education agency charter school grantees are expected to be announced in coming weeks.