The Monadnock Region’s first charter school, Lionheart Classical Academy, has received a $1.5 million grant from the federal government, distributed by the New Hampshire Department of Education.
According to Talmage Bayer, federal charter school grants and programs administrator for the New Hampshire Department of Education, the grant is focused on expenses involved in opening and starting a charter school, and can be used for almost anything outside of construction.
“It’s basically all of the things outside of the shell of a building that make a school,” he said.
Lionheart Executive Director Kerry Bedard said the grant will allow the school more leeway as it prepares to open in the fall.
“It just gives us the flexibility, for example, to go out if we need to and purchase furniture for the school, and other supplies we need,” she said.
The grant is for a three-year period, and is available to be applied for by all charter schools that are starting. Bedard said that one of the key uses for the grant will likely be to hire staff earlier, which she said would make a big difference.
“That helps us as a new charter school opening up, to spend more time with teachers and get ready,” she said. “We are just thrilled, because it gives us more support and flexibility as we get off the ground.”
When Lionheart first applied in November, its charter had not yet been approved by the state, but Bedard said they were told their application was competitive and they would have a good chance at receiving the grant once they were authorized.
“We’ve been waiting anxiously, kind of waiting to find out,” she said. “We just found out that the money is now available to us.”
Bayer said this lack of authorization was the reason that Lionheart did not make it through the initial round of the grant, but that when the DOE found that it still had money to expend, it realized they could make one more award.
“Our task as the grantee is to be getting the grants out to schools,” he said. And Lionheart, he said, was a very strong competitor for this money.
“It’s essentially to recognize schools that are innovative in practice, or serving particular target areas or areas of need,” he said.
As Lionheart is the first charter school in the Monadnock Region, that was a key factor in the decision, plus Bayer said that other areas of its application were impressive, including a plan that the academy had in place for outreach to families in need.
“They’ve had a really good response,” he said.
This is just one of the steps that Lionheart is taking to prepare for its first year, with a lottery coming up on March 5 to decide which 150 students will be able to attend starting in the fall. According to Bedard, the school had more than 180 registrations as of about a week before the March 1 deadline to sign up, and parents have told her and the other founders that they are nervous for the lottery, with many intending to not attend the event in person in case of disappointment.
“We also feel a little bit of that anxiety,” she said. “We just know we have some parents that really want this option for their child, and we have limited seats. We’re just telling everybody to hang tight, it’s part of the process, it’ll all work out.”
In the meantime, Bedard said that she was trying to focus on the positive.
“We are very excited,” she said. “We are very humbled by the reception that we’ve received from parents; they’re excited to have this choice.”