Giving Compass' Take:

• Amid a politicized debate about the impact of charter schools, two charter networks received large federal grants from the government to fund their expansion plans. 

• Which charter school networks are showing impact? How can donors learn more about the intricacies of charter school network funding and expansion? 

• Read about the funding gap between charter schools and public schools. 

Two prominent charter school networks, KIPP and IDEA, netted huge grants from the federal government to fuel their expansion. KIPP, the largest nonprofit charter network in the country, is slated to receive $86 million over five years to create 52 new schools.

The grants, announced last week, underscore the substantial role the federal government plays in helping charter schools expand. But they come at a perilous time politically for the charter school movement, which has seen its growth and popularity ebb in recent years. These networks’ plans for rapid growth might both run into — and fuel — political opposition, particularly in places where that growth will strain school districts’ finances.

The Charter Schools Program, which started in 1995 and has issued billions in competitive grants, has come under fire in recent weeks. Congressional Democrats grilled Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos earlier this month about a critical report that pointed to a number of schools that received federal funding but subsequently closed or never opened.

Nina Rees, the president of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, said federal grants are a crucial source of funding for start-up schools and that closures of ineffective schools are signs that the charter model is working.

“In many states and cities it’s potentially the only source of start-up dollars that schools receive,” she said. “When you first open a school, unless you come into the work with your own money, you don’t have any way of paying for certain things.”

Read the full article about charter school networks receives federal grants by Matt Barnum at Chalkbeat.