Five-year federal grant will support educational opportunities, implementation and responsible charter school growth

Delaware has been awarded a five-year, $16 million federal Charter Schools Program grant to expand access to high-quality public charter school options while strengthening the support, oversight and accountability systems that help schools deliver strong outcomes for students.

The grant period begins Oct. 1, 2026. At least 90 percent of the award will fund competitive subgrants for the planning, implementation, replication and expansion of charter schools that address documented student and community needs. Awards will depend on the quality and readiness of applicants and will consider community need, financial sustainability and evidence of demand. Subject to proposals meeting the grant’s quality, readiness, community-need and financial-sustainability requirements, grant-supported activities have a five-year target of increasing statewide charter enrollment capacity by about10 percent. Currently, about 19,000 Delaware students are enrolled in 23 charter schools across the state.

Delaware pursued the funding as one part of its broader work to expand educational opportunities and improve outcomes across the state’s public education system. The grant will support charter school models that respond to documented student and community needs while complementing broader state and local school improvement efforts. Identified needs include alternative and therapeutic educational models, workforce-connected pathways, rural educational opportunities, dual-language programs, literacy-focused programs, and flexible pathways for students who are overage or under-credited. The initiative also focuses on expanding access for educationally disadvantaged students, multilingual learners, students with disabilities, and other student populations that have experienced barriers to educational opportunity.

“Expanding opportunities for students cannot be about adding seats for the sake of adding seats. We have to start with what students and communities need and be equally focused on quality, strong implementation and accountability,” Secretary of Education Cindy Marten said. “Charter schools are one part of Delaware’s public education system. This investment gives us an opportunity to support strong educational models where there is documented need, learn from what is working, and use those lessons to expand opportunity across public education.”

Subgrants will be awarded through a competitive process that considers educational quality, community need, implementation readiness, organizational capacity, financial sustainability and access. For applicants seeking funding to replicate or expand an existing school, performance and track record also will be considered. Priority consideration may be given to proposals that serve underserved students and communities, address transportation barriers, support multilingual learners and students with disabilities, strengthen workforce-connected learning or replicate successful models. Priority consideration will not replace the grant’s quality requirements.

The investment goes beyond funding individual schools. DDOE will use a portion of the grant to strengthen technical assistance and implementation support throughout the charter school lifecycle, including governance and board development, fiscal management, compliance, leadership development, implementation coaching, peer learning and communities of practice. DDOE also will strengthen charter authorizing practices through annual academic, financial and organizational reviews, professional learning for authorizers, performance monitoring and continuous improvement.

“We are grateful for the partnership between the Delaware Department of Education and the Delaware Charter Schools Network. We are equally grateful for this investment in our education system, and for what it makes possible for students across our state,” said Kendall Massett, DCSN executive director. “When organizations keep children at the center of their planning and stay relentlessly focused on the outcomes we want for them, this is what happens: a shared vision for collaboration, flexibility, and support for the people and strategies best positioned to make a difference for students statewide.”

Schools receiving funding will participate in ongoing fiscal, programmatic and performance monitoring, including progress reporting, budget reviews, site visits, performance reviews and implementation milestone tracking. DDOE will use those results to identify risks, provide targeted support and take corrective action when necessary. An independent external evaluator also will review implementation and performance throughout the five-year initiative.

The grant aligns with Delaware’s broader strategic plan by connecting investments to identified student and community needs and pairing resources with implementation support and accountability. Effective practices and lessons learned through the initiative will be shared across Delaware’s charter and traditional public school sectors through communities of practice, professional learning and other cross-sector opportunities, extending the potential benefit beyond schools receiving grant funding.

This award received support from the Community Funding Accelerator (CFA), which helps communities identify public funding opportunities and provides technical assistance to pursue and implement competitive grants. CFA supported Delaware throughout the application process, from determining eligibility through submission.

During the first year of the grant, DDOE will establish grant management systems, conduct stakeholder outreach and technical assistance, release the first competitive subgrant opportunity, recruit and train reviewers, award the first cohort of subgrants and begin implementation support. Additional information about subgrant eligibility, application requirements and timelines will be released as the first competition is developed.

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