Great Schools for Connecticut
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In September 2022, the Northeast Charter Schools Network (NECSN) was awarded $24.5 million for the Great Schools for Connecticut (GSCT) Project by the U.S. Department of Education (Department) under the FY 2022 Charter Schools Program (CSP) State Entities Grants Program. The CSP State Entity program provides financial assistance to State entities to support charter schools that serve elementary and secondary school students in a given State.
As the sister organization of NECSN, the Connecticut Charter Schools Association (CTCSA) plans to award CSP subgrants to charter school developers in Connecticut to provide financial support and technical assistance for the initial implementation of expanding, replicating, or opening new charter schools.
The GSCT project will pursue three main objectives:
- Increasing the number of high-quality public school seats for educationally disadvantaged students in Connecticut;
- Working in partnership with the authorizer to strengthen the caliber of the state’s charter school operation and authorization; and
- Heightening collaboration and resource sharing between and among schools with different governance structures.
Application Process
The application process comprises several stages, the first of which is an Eligibility Check (submission of the Letter of Intent), followed by the Request for Application (RFA) stage, Peer Review stage and final selection. The RFA seeks to identify quality applications which demonstrate that the applicant has the capacity to meet the three main program objectives.Once grants are awarded, subgrantees will be required to adhere to several monitoring and reporting requirements. Failure to meet grant reporting and monitoring requirements, or any of the grant conditions, may result in revocation of grant funding and may even require subgrantees to reimburse federal grant money already spent. Please refer to the Schedule of Events for important dates to remember.
Letter of Intent / Eligibility Check
All interested applicants are strongly advised to attend the CSP Introductory webinar to be held on May 14, 2024, at 10 a.m. You can register for the event here. During the webinar, GSCT staff will walk applicants through a brief overview of the CSP program and the first stage of the application process - the Letter of Intent Eligibility Check and the documentation required for this stage.Request for Applications (RFA) process
The next competition RFA will open in Summer 2024. CTCSA will hold a pre-RFA webinar on May 14, 2024, at 10 a.m. You can register for the event here. Applicants who wish to apply for a grant during the upcoming grant cycle are strongly advised to attend the live webinar. During this session, GSCT staff will walk applicants through the Request for Application process, the application tool and interface, and outline the required documents in the application packet. These include the project narrative, the budget template, pre- and post-award reporting, monitoring requirements, and the certifications and assurances required at the RFA stage. The list is not exhaustive and further details are available on our Applicant Resources page.Office Hours
During each stage of the application process, GSCT staff will hold office hours. Refer to the Schedule of Events for specific dates and times as they become available.- For further information about the grant please email us at: csp@ctcharters.org
- For finance / budget related questions please contact: cspfinance@ctcharters.org