Giving Compass' Take:

•  The Colorado Department of education is offering $55 million in grants to Colorado charter schools to expand tech and classroom resources. 

• How will charter school expansion grants help improve accountability and accessibility in the charter school system? 

• Read about how charter school transparency is lacking according to public advocates. 

The Colorado Department of Education has received $55 million in federal grant money to help new and expanding charter schools with start-up costs and other expenditures.

“If you have funding to cover furniture and technology, it makes it a lot more viable to get started,” said Bill Kottenstette, executive director for schools of choice within the Colorado Department of Education.

The Colorado Department of Education is one of eight states to get so-called state entities grants from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Innovation and Improvement. The grants were announced earlier this month.

New charter schools and existing charter school networks with a successful track record that want to open additional schools or add grade levels are eligible for the grants. The state hopes to provide assistance to as many as 45 charter schools over the five-year period of the grant. Charter schools are publicly funded, but independent boards, not the district school board, run them.

While charters are not permitted to use the money to buy a school building — and amid Denver metro area’s booming market, real estate remains a major challenge for such schools — they can use the funds for campus repairs or to purchase a school bus.

Colorado will award the money through four competitive grant cycles, with 11 to 12 schools funded per cycle. State officials anticipate giving grants of around $1 million to each new school or expansion proposal, but the amounts could vary depending on the number of high-scoring applications. Some of the grant money will go toward programs that aim to improve the quality of charter schools through training for administrators and boards of directors.

Read the full article about Colorado charter schools by Erica Meltzer at Chalkbeat