Good day, CharterFolk.
Today we are delighted to kick off the New Year with a Contributor Column written by Jessica Shopoff, Starlee Coleman and Marian Schutte.
We provide bios for all three below.
Jessica Shopoff, VP of Policy and Research, Texas Public Charter Schools Association. Jessica is responsible for leading the strategy and implementation of the Association’s research, regulatory, and legislative policy agendas. Prior to joining TPCSA, Jessica was a Harvard Strategic Data Project Fellow and spent many years working in virtual and dropout recovery charter schools. She is a self-professed data nerd and policy wonk who believes that zip code should not determine a child’s future. She lives in the Texas Hill Country with her husband and four kids.
Starlee Coleman, President and CEO, National Alliance of Public Charter Schools. Starlee has more than 25 years of experience turning public policy ideas into laws through government affairs, communications and grassroots mobilization campaigns. She’s had wide-ranging experience in education policy and advocacy, including leading the Texas Public Charter Schools Association and co-founding SchoolForward, a public affairs firm advancing education reforms. A regular media commentator on CNN, Fox News, Wall Street Journal, and NPR, Starlee has earned a Templeton Freedom Award for Best Initiative in Public Relations. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico with her family.
Marian Schutte, Associate Commissioner, Department of Authorizing & Policy, Texas Education Agency. Marian has steered state-level policy for Texas charter schools for more than five years and has been a charter school authorizer for close to 15 fifteen years at three statewide authorizing entities in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas after beginning her career in education as a charter school teacher in New Orleans, LA. In her role, she also leads TEA’s work to cultivate new, innovative campuses through virtual/hybrid education, district-charter partnerships, local accountability systems, and parent choice. She lives in Austin, Texas.
Spurring Impact: How TEA, TPCSA, and NAPCS Lassoed the Largest Charter Facilities Incentive Grant in History
When Texans take on a challenge, they don’t tiptoe around it — they charge in boots-first. That type of grit and drive powered one of the biggest charter facilities funding wins in history.
After years of preparation and collaboration, Texas has secured the largest Charter Schools Program (CSP) State Facilities Incentive Grant (SFIG) ever awarded: $66.8 million over five years. This investment represents a Texas-sized statement toward providing Texas students with access to high-quality public-school options that will help foster lifelong success.
Through collaboration between the Texas Public Charter Schools Association (TPSCA), the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (NAPCS) and the Texas Education Agency (TEA), Texas was able to unlock these key resources to help students have a place to learn, grow and thrive.
Texas-Sized Victory
Under the leadership of Marian Schutte, Associate Commissioner of Authorizing and Policy, TEA applied for the CSP SFIG grant to support the Spurring Impact project. Marian has steered state-level policy for Texas charter schools for over five years and has served as a charter school authorizer for nearly fifteen years at three statewide authorizing entities. Given her depth of experience, the strength of the project plan and team, and the potential for these dollars to impact hundreds of thousands of students across the state, it is no surprise that Texas was awarded this grant.
TEA will operate the Spurring Impact project as a subgrant program, directing funds based on two key factors: need and quality. The program will prioritize high-performing schools in low-performing regions, with an emphasis on schools serving high populations of economically disadvantaged students. Awarded schools will receive a federal match of $127 on top of the $373 per pupil in state facilities funding dollars. That’s more than triple the facilities funding that charter schools received last school year.
Spurring Impact Numbers at a Glance
- Year 1: $19 million in subgrants, supporting approximately 95 schools
- Year 5: $6 million in subgrants, supporting approximately 35 schools
- Total federal match: $127 per pupil
- Total facilities funding (with match): $500 per pupil
While the funding itself is transformative, the SFIG’s reach goes beyond the bottom line. Because TEA identified a community-wide need, the grant will also cover a third-party training provider to design and run a robust facilities training program for all charter schools. This initiative will help charter leaders across the state to build expertise in facilities planning, finance and compliance. With Spurring Impact, TEA continues to identify innovative ways to utilize federal funds to meet the holistic needs of Texas’ charter school sector.
Blazing New Trails
For years, TPCSA and Texas charter schools had their sights set on increasing state and federal facilities funding but were hindered by federal barriers that made it nearly impossible to even compete for federal SFIG funding. SFIG provides federal matching to states that create or enhance per-pupil charter facilities funding. The catch? To qualify, a state had to have increased facilities funding in the previous year, and the grant competitions were only running every five years. The Texas legislature meets every other year, so you can see the challenge.
When the path forward isn’t clear, Texans blaze a new one. That’s exactly what TPCSA and NAPCS did.
Starlee Coleman and the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (NAPCS) went to work in Washington, D.C., to reshape the rules that boxed out too many states. Working with allies in Congress and the U.S. Department of Education, NAPCS removed the cap on SFIG funding within the broader Charter Schools Program and allowed for annual competitions, giving states more opportunities to qualify. The result? Three states were awarded SFIG in a single year for the first time.
Starlee explains the victory this way: “We were thrilled when the Department of Education (DOE) announced that TEA would be one of three recipients in the CSP’s largest facilities awards ever. The CSP is the federal government’s only dedicated funding stream for creating and expanding high-quality public charter schools. The State Facilities Incentive Grants are instrumental in helping states create per-pupil facilities aid programs to address one of the biggest barriers – facilities funding – to delivering the public charter schools that families want. But make no mistake y’all, these grant awards did not happen overnight. NAPCS and our partners at TPCSA, along with other charter school advocates from across the country, have been working for years with Congress and the DOE to strengthen the CSP by removing red tape, expanding flexibility and ensuring funds reach classrooms faster.
TPCSA ensured Texas’ historic school finance bill this session included a strong increase in charter school facilities funding. In June, Governor Abbott signed HB 2, which increased charter facilities funding from $152 per pupil to $373 per pupil. That win notched nearly $100M annually in new state funding and set Texas squarely in the saddle for the SFIG, ready to turn a state funding success into the trailhead for a federal funding victory.
The Lone Star Playbook
The biggest SFIG ever didn’t just wander in on its own. It is the product of strategic patience, determination and collaboration. As the dust settles, several key lessons have emerged.
1. Looking Down the Trail. This wasn’t a sprint; it was a long and bumpy ride. TPCSA and NAPCS were scouting future possibilities years in advance, laying groundwork and removing barriers long before the state funding victory finally unlocked SFIG eligibility.
2. Lone Stars Shine Brighter Together. When folks come together with a shared mission, there’s no limit to what can be achieved. While TEA, TPCSA, and NAPCS all have distinct roles to play in the charter sector, collaboration on projects like this ultimately maximizes the positive impact on schools and their students.
3. On The Road Again. With SFIG funds now awarded, Texas has the exciting challenge of implementing the program effectively while ensuring every dollar drives measurable impact.
- TEA will launch the first SFIG subgrant competition in early 2026, finalize the training provider, and set up transparent reporting systems to track progress.
- TPCSA will support charter schools as they apply for the subgrant, advocate for ongoing state investment, and collect data to show how these funds transform communities.
- NAPCS will keep the pressure up in D.C., pushing for continued federal support, while helping other states learn from the Texas model.
When you look at the journey, from breaking through federal barriers to securing a state funding increase and a record-setting grant, one truth shines through: in Texas, when we ride together, great things happen.
Giddy up, y’all.