Recently, two charter schools in Arizona were issued grants as part of the state's Charter School Incentive Program.
The Academy of Mathematics and Science South and the Institute for Transformational Education both received the startup grants, which total $230,000 per year for the next three years.
Of the two dozen applications the state received for the program, 11 schools were chosen. "All of the winning schools outlined a variety of data-driven strategies to improve student achievement. They also had a plan to continuously monitor student progress and in-house programs," according to the Arizona Daily Star.
A large portion of the allocated startup funds will be dedicated toward assembling leadership and staff members. A number of other schools receiving funds have focused on technology upgrades, adopting smartboards, high-tech computers and HDMI projectors in their classrooms.
The Arizona Department of Education instituted the grant program in order to build more charter schools as way of presenting more public school options for residents.
Like these schools, an elementary school in Indiana recently received a grant to upgrade its technology, purchasing iPads and MacBook Pro laptops for students and teachers, respectively.
