U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today announced the award of 12 charter school grants, totaling $136 million to state education agencies in Arkansas, California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Texas to increase public school options in those states.

The Administration will invest more than $256 million this year to assist in the planning and implementation of public charter schools and dissemination of their successful practices through the Charter Schools Program. President Barack Obama's fiscal year 2011 budget request includes a $54 million increase in the Charter Schools Program, providing $310 million and representing another step toward meeting the Administration's commitment to double financial support for the program during the President's term.

The purpose of the Charter Schools 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.

More information about the Charter Schools Program is available from the Education Department's Office of Innovation and Improvement at: www2.ed.gov/programs/charter/index.html.

Note to Editors: The following is a list of grantees by state and grant award amount for the first year of the grant followed by grantee contact information.