Sponsors (7)
Official title: To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 in order to provide for greater flexibility in the Federal programs supporting the planning and implementation of charter schools.
Introduced January 15, 2026 by Ryan Mackenzie · Last progress January 15, 2026
This bill shifts federal support toward charter school facilities and targeted expansion (with faster payments and reduced paperwork), trading off reduced discretionary funds and national program flexibility, potential impacts on traditional public schools, and new uncertainty or oversight and civil‑rights risks for some communities.
Charter schools and students will get more and faster facility funding (higher minimum facilities reservation, expanded facilities financing, and allowance for advance payments), making it easier to open, expand, or renovate school buildings.
Students and parents could gain access to more charter seats—particularly in States with new enabling laws, rural areas, and for students with disabilities—because the bill targets planning and expansion support to underserved areas.
Charter operators will have greater flexibility to use grant funds for staffing, operations, renovations, and other capital needs (including permitting single-sex programs), helping schools hire teachers, maintain facilities, and scale programs.
Students and prospective charter projects could see fewer grants for programmatic activities (startups, replication, or national supports) because larger minimum reservations for facilities and altered national-activity shares reduce discretionary funds.
Traditional public school students and communities risk losing resources as expanded federal support for charter expansion may draw students and public funding away from district schools.
Students and certain groups could face civil‑rights and oversight risks because the bill permits single‑sex programs, weakens some consistency/usage constraints, and narrows paperwork discretionary tools that help prevent misuse of funds.
Based on analysis of 8 sections of legislative text.
Reallocates and increases Charter Schools Program set‑asides, expands allowable grant uses (including program expansions), mandates stakeholder consultation and paperwork limits, and permits advance payments.
Increases and refocuses federal Charter Schools Program funding priorities, raising minimum set‑asides for facilities and national activities, directing leftover funds toward facilities, national activities, and other program uses, and expanding allowable uses to support opening, expanding, strengthening, and adding programs at high‑quality charter schools. The bill also tightens administrative requirements on the Department of Education—making consultations and paperwork-reduction requirements mandatory, limiting additional regulatory burdens, and requiring advance payment authority and other financial flexibilities for State entities and grantees. Overall, the measure retools how grant dollars are reserved and spent, broadens eligible activities (including support for curriculum/program expansions and single‑sex options), changes application and evaluation rules for national grants, and lets existing grantees elect to operate under the new rules for the remainder of their grant periods.