North Carolina’s charter school infrastructure is set to get a boost from a record-breaking $52.9 million federal grant awarded to the NC Association for Public Charter Schools (NCAPCS).
The grant, known as NC Grow, is the largest federal award ever designated for charter schools since charters were first legalized in 1996. It marks the first time such a substantial federal Charter Schools Program grant has been awarded to a nonprofit organization in the Tar Heel State.
From 2018 to 2023, the CSP grant filtered through the Office of Charter Schools at an amount of $36.6 million.
The new grant was originally awarded in September 2025, but implementation was delayed due to the government shutdown.
“We’re very pleased and excited about everything that we’ll be able to do,” said Rhonda Dillingham, executive director of NCAPCS, during the March 9 meeting of the NC Charter Schools Review Board.
Applications are available to all charters in the state and will open on April 2. The full application deadline is May 21, and award notifications will be made in June. Individual grants are valued between $500,000 and $2 million over multiple years, depending on the grant type.
The CSP grant aims to establish 28 new charter schools over five years, with a total of 42 subgrants awarded, including for expansion and replication. A significant focus will be placed on schools that emphasize career and technical education (CTE); science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) programs; and artificial intelligence.
The grant mandates board governance training for schools that receive a grant in addition to a one-year finance fellowship, both aspects that Dillingham emphasized in her remarks to the charter review board.
“One thing that I have noticed is a unifying theme anytime you are faced with a school closure … there is an issue with board governance somewhere at that school,” Dillingham said. “And then in some cases there also could be an issue with finances.”
The grant will also support the implementation of remote charter schools, including a research project to pinpoint best practices, an implementation guide for schools, and a quality indicators rubric.
Dillingham cited another objective of the grant — to create clear pathways to employment in charter school curricula — by pointing to expectations for strong job growth for vocational workers in the coming years.
“Our hope is that through our grant we will be able to partner with schools to make them strong in their workforce development, their CTE and STEM programs, because we have 628,000 annual job openings in our state. By 2030, it’s anticipated that we will need two million credentialed workers,” Dillingham said.
There was more good news for charter schools on March 9 as well, with the announcement from the US Department of Agriculture of a $7 million grant to Neuse Charter School in Johnston County. The grant will fund a new 25,000-square-foot academic building for grades K-5.