Bloomberg Philanthropies has announced a five-year, $750 million commitment in support of efforts to advance charter schools.

The initiative is aimed at closing student achievement gaps — which have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly for students from lower-income families — and creating an additional hundred and fifty thousand seats at high-quality charter schools in twenty metro areas. With a focus on schools where students have been deeply impacted by the pandemic, more than 80 percent of students receive free and reduced price lunch, and more than 90 percent are children of color, the foundation will invest in top-performing existing charter schools; provide seed funding for incubating and opening new high-quality charter schools, with an emphasis on new models; build and upgrade school facilities; fund training and support for teachers, principals, and other school leaders; provide support for teachers and leaders of color so charter school leadership accurately reflects the diversity of their students; and publish research on key drivers of student achievement across charter schools supported by the initiative.

Data show that the pandemic has been most detrimental for students in schools serving mostly Black and Latino students and for those in schools in lower-income neighborhoods. And while pandemic response has been immensely challenging for all schools around the country, studies show that charter schools leveraged their flexibility and autonomy to better meet the needs of students.

“America’s public education system is broken. The pandemic hasn’t just underscored that reality — it has made it worse, and the remedy isn’t more tinkering around the edges,” said Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies founder Michael R. Bloomberg. “The future of our country depends on bold changes to education. While politicians fail to act with the urgency we need, this major new investment in public charter schools can help spread opportunity more equitably to students of all backgrounds nationwide.”

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