Office of Innovation and Improvement (OII): Expanding Opportunity through Quality Charter Schools Program: Grants for Credit Enhancement for Charter School Facilities CFDA Number 84.354A | ED GRANTS 032717 001

Opportunity Information: Apply for ED GRANTS 032717 001

This Department of Education discretionary grant opportunity, run through the Office of Innovation and Improvement (OII), is part of the Expanding Opportunity through Quality Charter Schools Program and is specifically focused on facilities financing through the Grants for Credit Enhancement for Charter School Facilities program (CFDA 84.354A). The core idea is straightforward: many charter schools struggle to afford buildings, renovations, or construction because they often cannot access affordable long-term financing on the same terms as traditional public school districts. This program funds eligible organizations to use federal dollars as a credit enhancement tool, meaning the grant money is not mainly intended to pay directly for a school building. Instead, it is meant to reduce lender and investor risk so that charter schools can secure loans and bond financing more easily and at better rates, ultimately lowering the cost of acquiring, constructing, and renovating facilities.

The purpose of the program is to demonstrate innovative, scalable ways to increase the availability of private-sector and other non-federal capital for charter school facilities. In practice, grantees typically act as intermediaries: they receive federal funds and then deploy them through mechanisms like loan guarantees, debt service reserves, collateral support, interest rate buy-downs, revolving loan funds, or other structured credit supports that make banks and bond markets more willing to lend to charter schools. By design, the program tries to multiply the impact of federal dollars by using them to unlock larger amounts of outside financing, rather than funding a small number of projects directly.

The notice highlights that the Department has made new Credit Enhancement awards annually since FY 2002, building a portfolio of grantees that use these funds to help charter schools access financing at a reasonable cost. The program was reauthorized in December 2015 under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), cited at 20 U.S.C. 7221c. That matters because it signals that the requirements and expectations for applicants come from the ESSA-authorized version of the program, and the competition uses those statutory requirements along with Department selection criteria.

A key feature of this competition is that it includes both priorities and preferences tied to need and leverage. The notice states there is a competitive preference priority aimed at supporting charter schools operating in high-need communities and geographic areas. While the synopsis does not spell out the exact scoring or definitions, the intent is clear: applicants that can demonstrate their financing approach will benefit charter schools serving higher-need populations or located in underserved places may receive an advantage in the competition. In addition, the notice includes an invitational priority encouraging applicants to partner with other entities in ways that bring in new or previously untapped capital and resources. The example given is a partnership with a newly created state-funded credit enhancement program that improves charter school bond credit ratings, which can reduce interest rates and overall borrowing costs. Invitational priorities typically do not guarantee extra points the way competitive preference priorities can, but they signal what the Department wants to see: collaboration that expands reach, increases leverage, and strengthens the applicant’s capacity to support more schools over time.

In terms of who can apply, the eligible applicant categories listed include state, county, and city/township governments; special district governments; nonprofit organizations with 501(c)(3) status (excluding institutions of higher education); nonprofits without 501(c)(3) status (also excluding institutions of higher education); and other entities as clarified in the official notice. This broad eligibility reflects the fact that credit enhancement and facilities finance expertise often sits with nonprofits, quasi-public entities, and specialized financing organizations, not only with school operators themselves. The grant is administered by the U.S. Department of Education, and the opportunity category is discretionary, meaning awards are competitive and based on application quality and alignment with requirements and priorities.

The operational details in the synopsis focus heavily on how to apply and where the authoritative rules live. The description repeatedly stresses that the Federal Register notice is the official source and that applicants must rely on it for specific eligibility nuances, application requirements, submission rules, performance measures, and priority definitions. Applications under CFDA 84.354A must be submitted electronically through Grants.gov. Applicants are expected to download the application package, complete it offline, and upload it for submission through the Grants.gov system; emailing an application is explicitly not allowed. A small but important technical instruction is included: when searching on Grants.gov, applicants should search using “84.354” and not include the alpha suffix (“A”) in the search term.

For this specific posting, the timeline and funding scale are also clear. The opportunity was created on March 27, 2017, with applications available the same day. A pre-application meeting was scheduled for April 12, 2017, in Washington, DC, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. The deadline for submitting applications was May 11, 2017. The award ceiling listed is $8,000,000, and the Department expected to make approximately three awards. Taken together, that suggests a relatively small number of large grants, consistent with the program’s model of funding intermediaries capable of deploying substantial credit enhancement tools and leveraging significant non-federal capital.

Overall, this grant opportunity is best understood as an effort to strengthen the charter school facilities market by funding organizations that can make charter school borrowing less expensive and more accessible. Rather than paying for buildings outright, the federal investment is meant to catalyze larger pools of financing from banks, bond investors, and other non-federal sources, with a particular interest in reaching high-need communities and encouraging partnerships that expand capital access and long-term capacity. For any organization considering applying (or reviewing historical opportunities for reference), the practical next step would be to read the official Federal Register notice for the exact statutory and programmatic requirements, the selection criteria, the definitions tied to high-need priorities, and the required structure of the credit enhancement approach being proposed.

• The Department of Education in the education sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Office of Innovation and Improvement (OII): Expanding Opportunity through Quality Charter Schools Program: Grants for Credit Enhancement for Charter School Facilities CFDA Number 84.354A" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 84.354.
• This funding opportunity was created on Mar 27, 2017.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 11, 2017 Applications Available March 27, 2017. Date of Pre-Application Meeting April 12, 2017, 100 p.m. to 200 p.m., Washington, DC, time. Deadline for Transmittal of Applications May 11, 2017.. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $8,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 3 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for ED GRANTS 032717 001

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