The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced this morning more funding for cities that have signed charter-district collaboration compacts.
The foundation will offer an additional $40 million to invest in the progress of the compact cities through competitive grants and some program investments.
Last December, Denver Public Schools signed a compact with its charter schools to create more equity among traditional district-run schools and independently-operated charter schools.
At the time, some funding was already available for the compact cities, but none has been awarded.
Two additional cities, Chicago and Springs Branch, Texas, today announced they are also signing the compact, bringing the total number of participating cities to 14.
“We like what we’ve seen, and we’d like to see more of it,” said the foundation’s director of education, Vicki L. Phillips.
Since signing the compact, DPS has been able sign agreements with all charter schools to agree to accept students mid-year, and this month is rolling out a new district-wide enrollment process that eliminates the individual applications previously requested by each charter school.
