The Dallas-based Hamon Charitable Foundation has announced a $12.5 million matching grant to Uplift Education, the largest charter management organization in North Texas.

The one-to-one four-year matching grant is designed to help Uplift Education reach its capital campaign goal of $64 million and add five new schools in underserved communities to its network. The charter operator will enroll ten thousand students in twenty-eight schools this fall and plans to open at least two new schools for the 2014-15 school year, with the goal of enrolling thirteen thousand students by 2015.

Earlier this year, the Texas legislature considered measures to make it easier for charter school networks to expand. More than a hundred thousand families in Texas are believed to be on charter schools wait lists — a number that tends to increase when new charter schools are opened.

"Families across our region want quality schools," said Uplift Education CEO Yasmin Bhatia. "Our wait list for the 2013-14 school year is more than eight thousand families deep. Right now, many of these families do not feel they have other strong school options. The Hamon Charitable Foundation will allow us to make an immediate impact on the number of Uplift schools available to students on our wait list."