Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education

The California Department of Education has awarded the Livermore Valley Charter Preparatory, a newly approved charter high school in Livermore, CA, a Public Charter School Grant for the maximum eligible amount of $450,000. The total project period for the grant is January 1, 2010, through August 15, 2012. “I am very happy to have achieved this meaningful milestone in the development of our new, cutting edge program to benefit the high school students of Livermore and the Tri-Valley. While we had anticipated the receipt of the grant, it is always exciting to find points of affirmation in the building of our program,” said Bill Batchelor, Chief Operating Officer of the Tri-Valley Learning Corporation.

The federal Public Charter School Grant Program supports the planning, development, and initial implementation of charter schools. According to the U.S. Department of Education, “Charter schools provide enhanced parental choice and are exempt from many statutory and regulatory requirements. In exchange for increased flexibility, charter schools are held accountable for improving student academic achievement. The objective is to replace rules-based governance with performance-based accountability, thereby stimulating the creativity and commitment of teachers, parents, and citizens.”

The Public Charter School Grant is available, on a competitive basis, to State Educational Agencies in states that have charter school laws. In awarding the grant, the U.S. Department of Education gives preference to states that ensure accountability of public charter schools for reaching clear and measurable objectives and that give public charter schools a high degree of autonomy over their budgets and expenditures. The State of California has consistently won its share of this federal grant and relies on the Charter Schools Division of the California Department of Education to divide the fund amongst nonprofit entities and local education agencies that are likely to develop and open high-quality charter schools in California.