After Philadelphia's School Reform Commission approved the creation of five new charter schools last winter, the nonprofit organizations opening those schools will receive a combined $10.5 million in funding through grants from the Philadelphia School Partnership.
Each of the nonprofits, selected from among 39 applications in February, have a proven record of running successful schools in Philadelphia and will open the new charters over the next few years, according to the Philadelphia Public School Notebook.
Mastery Charter Schools will receive $3.3 million to open up Gillespie in North Philadelphia, a K-6 campus that will eventually enroll up to 588 students with admissions preference given to students from the Simon Gratz catchment area. Gillespie will open for the 2017-2018 school year, and students who complete the K-6 program will matriculate to Gratz, Mastery's 7-12 Renaissance school.
KIPP will receive a $1.6 million grant to help open a West Philadelphia elementary school that will serve 375 students and create a bridge to the West Philly KIPP middle school.
Freire Charter will receive $1.9 million toward the opening of TECH Freire in North Philadelphia, which will serve 580 students with an emphasis on computer programming and entrepreneurship. Admissions preference will be given to students from the Strawberry Mansion catchment.
PSP will grant $1.9 million to MaST for a new charter school in lower Northeast Philadelphia that will grow to serve 1,250 students.
Independence Charter will also receive $1.7 million for a new K-8 school serving 900 students from the West Philadelphia catchments of Sayre, Bartram and Overbrook high schools.
The Philadelphia School Partnership raises philanthropic funds to invest in the startup, expansion and turnaround of public and private schools, with a goal of accelerating the number of students on a path to college.
Read the full Philadelphia Public School Notebook article here.