Capital Outlay Funding

About Charter School Capital Outlay

Charter School Capital Outlay funds are annually allocated to eligible charter schools. To be eligible for funding a charter school must meet criteria 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, or 1e, as well as criteria 2,3,4, and 5.

1. Have been in operation for 2 or more years;
   1. Be governed by a governing board established in the state for two or more years which operates both charter schools and conversion charter schools within the state;
   2. Be an expanded feeder chain of a charter school within the same school district that is currently receiving charter school capital outlay funds;
   3. Be accredited by a regional accrediting association as defined by State Board of Education rule; or
   4. Serve students in facilities that are provided by a business partner for a charter school-in-the-workplace pursuant to s. 1002.33(15)(b).
2. Have an annual audit that does not reveal any of the financial emergency conditions provided in s. 218.503(1) for the most recent fiscal year for which such audit results are available.
3. Have satisfactory student achievement based on state accountability standards applicable to the charter school.
4. Have received final approval from its sponsor pursuant to s. 1002.33 for operation during that fiscal year.
5. Serve students in facilities that are not provided by the charter school's sponsor.

Allowable Uses of Funds

Charter School Capital Outlay funds may be used for any of the following purposes:

1. Purchase of real property.
2. Construction of school facilities.
3. Purchase, lease-purchase, or lease of permanent or relocatable school facilities.
4. Purchase of vehicles to transport students to and from the charter school.
5. Renovation, repair, and maintenance of school facilities that the charter school owns or is purchasing through a lease-purchase or long-term lease of 5 years or longer.
6. The purchase, lease-purchase or lease of computer and device hardware and operating system software necessary for gaining access to or enhancing the use of electronic and digital instructional content and resources; and enterprise resource software applications that are classified as capital assets in accordance with definitions of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board. The software application must have a useful life of at least five years and be used to support school-wide administration or state-mandated reporting requirements. Enterprise resource software may be acquired by annual license fees, maintenance fees or lease agreement.
7. Payment of the cost of premiums for property and casualty insurance necessary to insure the school facilities.
8. Purchase, lease-purchase, or lease of driver's education vehicles; motor vehicles used for the maintenance or operation of plants and equipment; security vehicles; or vehicles used in storing or distributing materials and equipment.
9. The payment of the cost of the opening day collection for the library media center of a new school.

How to Apply

Charter school capital outlay plans must be submitted to the Florida Department of Education online by September 6, 2023, and each sponsoring district must review and recommend its charter schools’ plans by September 20, 2023. The commissioner will make the final determination of eligibility following receipt of capital outlay plans and district recommendations. The online application allows sponsoring districts to view a charter school’s plan, certify a school has sponsor approval to operate for the upcoming school year, and is operating in a facility not provided by the sponsor. All sponsor comments will be considered by the commissioner in determining a school’s eligibility. In the event that additional information becomes known during the 2023-24 fiscal year that may affect a charter school’s eligibility, the affected district and charter school are required to forward such information to the commissioner.

Each charter school is required to submit its capital outlay plan online at https://www.fldoe.org/sso. Please use your district assigned Single Sign-On (SSO) login credentials to access the Charter School Portal. Contact the district or IENHELP@fldoe.org for assistance.

• 2023-24 Capital Outlay Memo (PDF)
• 2023-24 Authorized Purposes (PDF)
• 2023-24 Eligibility Criteria (PDF)

Distribution List

To see current and past Charter School Capital Outlay Distribution Reports, visit the following webpage: http://www.fldoe.org/finance/fco/charter-school-capital-outlay/index.stml