The U.S. Secretary of Education is authorized to award grants for this competition under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) Section 5201-5211 (20 U.S.C. 7221a). To read the legislation, visit: http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/pg62.html

The link to the 2011 notice that appeared in the Federal Register and provided detailed information about the grant (Catalog of Domestic Assistance Number 84.282A) is http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2011/2011-1518.htm

Grant regulations are contained in EDGAR (Education Department General Administrative Regulations) at http://www2.ed.gov/policy/fund/reg/edgarReg/
edgar.pdf . Specifically, see parts 74, 75, 76, 77, 79, 89, 81, 82, 84, 85, 97, 98, and 99.

A non-regulatory guidance handbook addresses questions the Department receives regarding various provisions of the CSP statute and provides examples of ways to implement it. The handbook can be found at: MS Word (185KB)

The National Charter School Resource Center sponsored a webinar in February 2011. The second part of the webinar provided pre-application technical assistance for SEAs that might submit an application in the SEA CSP competition that opened in January 2011. To hear the webinar, visit: http://www.charterschoolcenter.org/webinars

Guidance on how State and Local Education Agencies allocate funds to charter schools that are opening for the first time or significantly expanding their enrollment may be found at: http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/guid/cschools/
cguidedec2000.pdf (PDF, 543KB).

A 2008 Guidance Letter concerning lottery exemptions and awards to multiple charter schools operating under a single charter can be found at: PDF (1.05MB).