JPMorgan Chase & Co., a global financial-services company, has announced a $325 million effort to support building, expanding, and renovating charter school facilities.

The company said it would give $50 million in grants to community-development financial institutions to support charter schools. It will also provide about $175 million in debt financing and about $100 million in “new markets tax-credit equity” for charter schools, according to a press release. It estimates the financing will help underwrite about 40 charter schools. The program is aimed at schools that already have a strong academic track record and have had their charter renewed at least once, or at established charter operators that want to launch new schools.

The company took out a full-page advertisement in The New York Times yesterday announcing the initiative. It also ran an ad in The Washington Post.

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By Lesli A. Maxwell

The largest-ever federal investment in fixing low-achieving schools is now flowing to states, raising the pressure on district leaders to make tough—and quick—decisions about firing principals, replacing teachers, or shutting down schools entirely.

Since last month, the U.S. Department of Education has been sending states their shares of $3.5 billion in Title I School Improvement Grants, money provided mostly by last year’s economic-stimulus package, as well as from $546 million in regular fiscal 2009 appropriations.

Less than six months from now, selected schools that rank among the bottom 5 percent in their states—the priority under the grant program—will be required to launch one of four “turnaround” strategies outlined by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. It’s a daunting timeline for some district leaders, who are eager for the windfall of support for struggling schools but may have qualms about the strict conditions for receiving the federal aid.

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House Boosts College Aid for Students in Need

Riding the coattails of a historic health care vote, the House on Sunday also passed a broad reorganization of college aid that affects millions of students and moves President Barack Obama closer to winning yet another of his top domestic policies.

The bill rewrites a four-decades-old student loan program, eliminating its reliance on private lenders and uses the savings to direct $36 billion in new spending to Pell Grants for students in financial need.

In the biggest piece of education legislation since No Child Left Behind nine years ago, the bill would also provide more than $4 billion to historically black colleges and community colleges.

The bill was paired with the expedited health care bill, a marriage of convenience that helped the prospects of each measure. That combined measure passed 220-211.

"We are pairing this historic health reform with another opportunity that cannot be missed — the chance to make the single largest investment in college affordability ever at no cost to the taxpayers," said Rep. George Miller, D-Calif.

The Senate will take up the bill next week under the same expedited rules used for health care legislation. That means the Senate can pass the education measure by a simple majority, virtually guaranteeing its success despite qualms from some Democrats and opposition from Republicans.

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Digital Innovation Outpaces E-Rate Policies

In its role helping the nation’s schools connect to the Internet and other telecommunications services, the E-rate has been among the most consistent of federal programs. But perhaps too consistent, educators and experts say.

Funding for the “education rate” program has held at about $2.25 billion a year since it was created under the Telecommunications Act of 1996, and it covers few of the technology services available to schools beyond simple Internet and phone connectivity.

But now, with a critical mass of schools connected to the Web, experts say inadequate funding and the program’s onerous and often confusing rules and procedures can complicate schools’ efforts to pursue more innovative tech-based approaches to teaching and learning.

“The scope of technology is expanding, but the E-rate is not there yet,” said Gary Rawson, Mississippi’s E-rate coordinator and the chair of the State E-rate Coordinators Alliance. “All the schools love it, all of them apply for it, but if you use E-rate you are going to have to deal with some frustration.”

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