New Start-up Funding Application Information

Charter Schools Program (CSP) Assurances - State Educational Agencies

Planning & Implementation Start-up Grants

Charter school grant funds support the initial planning and implementation of new charter schools. Allowable start-up costs are one-time expenditures that support the mission and the plan of the new or proposed charter school.

Eligibility - To be eligible for a Charter School Start-up Grant the applicant must:

• Have a charter and authorization to open.
• Set up the Charter School as a non-profit entity (for State Authorized charters only).
• For charter applications submitted to the local legislative body, conditional grant approval will be given pending local legislative approval to open.

New Hampshire’s highest priority for awarding Charter School Program funds will be to schools that propose to increase the academic achievement of students who are at greatest risk of not meeting challenging state academic standards or completing high school.

In this application, these charter schools will be defined as those programs enrolling a majority of students whose home attendance districts are considered chronically low performing as indicated by an Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) classification, “District in Need of Improvement”. All applications for charter schools that meet this priority will receive a competitive scoring advantage and will be eligible for a 10% larger grant award than that available to applications for charter schools that will not serve this targeted population.

STEP 2 - Once your Charter School has been authorized to open you may then apply for the federally funded Charter School Start-up Grant Funds (CFDA 84.282A)

• Charter School Start-Up Grant Funding Application
  The Charter School Start-up Grant RFP is used to apply for federal start-up money to assist your newly
  authorized Charter School in its planning and implementation phase. The Start-up funds can only be used for post-award planning and design of the educational program, and for initial implementation of a charter school. Planning and implementation grants may be awarded for a period of up to three years, with no more than 18 months used for planning and program design, and no more than two years used for initial implementation of the charter school.
  • Scoring Rubric for New Charter School Applicants - a review panel will evaluate the Start-up Grant Funding applications based on this rubric. The review criteria is based on a 100 point scale weighted across eight components. When developing your application make sure you address each of the eight components in the order that they show in the rubric

• How can the Charter School Program funds be used? When creating your application for the Charter School Program (CSP) start-up funding please have your budget only reflect how you will use the federal grant money over the next three years. Review the Title V, Part B: Nonregulatory Guidance for Charter Schools Program document to determine what expenditures are allowable/nonallowable during the start-up funding period. A condensed overview of these allowable/nonallowable is linked here but you should read and fully understand the provisions outlined in the Nonregulatory Guidance.

• Submit your Start-up funding application to the Charter School Office - much of this application can be cut/pasted from your initial charter approval application. The budget portion of this application should only show the projected expenditures of the requested funding dollars broken down for each of the three years (see example blank budget template) and should include a narrative sections for each projected expenditure. The Charter School Office will assign reviewers to look over this application. Any feedback will be sent back to you which may result in a request to modify the application. The final application will then be sent to the Commissioner for final approval.

Fiscal Requirements of a new Charter School - if your newly established Charter School plans on being its own fiscal agent (rather than using a District/SAU LEA as the fiscal agent) you will be required to submit a Vendor application and Alternate W-9 form, Reporting Agency(RA) Request form, RA Authorization form and a General Assurances form. The Charter School Program federal funding dollars cannot be distributed to a foundation, it must go directly to the new Charter School or associated LEA. These applications/forms must be submitted and approved in order to create your Charter School in our accounting systems. No funds can be allocated until your vendor information is established. Please refer to the Inspection Forms and Fiscal Agent Requirements page for access to these forms.

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