The U.S. Department of Education Awards YES Prep with a $5.5 Million Grant!

October 01, 2010 by Ryan Dolibois

YES Prep Public Schools (YES Prep) is proud to announce that we have been awarded $5.5 million through the U.S. Department of Education’s Charter Schools Program (CSP) grant competition. This is the first time the Department of Education has provided competitive grants specifically for the replication and expansion of high performing charters across the nation.

How was YES Prep selected to receive this grant?

The Department of Education launched the grant competition in May and allocated $50 million towards awards for high-performing charters. YES Prep submitted a competitive proposal package that outlined our comprehensive educational model, 12-year track record of success, growth plans and five-year funding needs.

Fifty charters competed for funding—submitting $350 million in requests—but only 12 schools were awarded a grant. YES Prep will receive $2.7 million in the first year of the grant. The remainder of the funds will be paid out over the next four years.

How will YES Prep use this grant?

YES Prep will use the $5.5 million to open five new schools and expand three existing schools to full enrollment. By 2020, YES Prep will serve 10,000 students in Houston’s low-income communities.

What are the larger implications of this grant?

The CSP grant is a concrete endorsement from our nation’s capital that YES Prep is a highly successful thought leader in education. Since YES Prep opened in 1998, the CMO has been committed to impacting the national movement for education reform, and this high-profile award will enable us to do this on an even larger scale.

Does this mean you don’t need to do any more fundraising?
Absolutely not! Houston needs better public education. Today, an average sixth grader in a Houston public school has less than a 10% chance of graduating from college. YES Prep currently has nearly as many students on our waiting list (4,000) as we have enrolled in our eight schools. YES Prep is committed to opening more schools and serving more students, and preparing those students for college success.

Public funding alone will not meet our growth needs. We need your support. Take action now and make an investment in our students’ and our city’s future.  

More information on the Charter Schools Program
The Charter Schools Program grant is managed by the Department of Education’s Office of Innovation and Improvement and is intended to increase financial support for high performing public schools, build a better national understanding of the public charter school model and increase the number of high-quality public charter schools across the nation. More information about the Charter Schools Program is available at: http://www.ed.gov/programs/charter/index.html.

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