As you know, Congress set up a Paycheck Protection Program for small businesses to use during the COVID shutdown, so that they could continue to pay their workers. Public and Charter schools are still paying their employees, and their funding has not (yet) been cut.
However, the national charter school lobbying group recommended that charter schools should take out these loans anyway, because, uh, they want more good government dollars. And many, many did just that.
How many charter schools in DC took the money, we don’t know, because only those who “borrowed” over $150,000 are listed, plus, the list doesn’t say exactly how much they got, but just a range (eg from $1 million to $2 million).
Will they have to pay it back? That depends on the citizens.
However, here are the charter schools that ‘borrowed’ a large amount of $$ here in Washington, DC.
Thanks to Mercedes Schneider and the Network for Public Education for making this data easily findable.
| DC Public Charter Schools that took over $150,000 in PPP ‘loans’ | min | max |
| ACADEMY OF HOPE ADULT PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL | $350,000 | $1,000,000 |
| ACHIEVEMENT PREPARATORY ACADEMY | $1,000,000 | $2,000,000 |
| APPLETREE EARLY LEARNING PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL | $1,000,000 | $2,000,000 |
| BREAKTHROUGH MONTESSORI PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL | $150,000 | $350,000 |
| BRIDGES PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL | $350,000 | $1,000,000 |
| CENTER CITY PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLS | $2,000,000 | $5,000,000 |
| CREATIVE MINDS INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC CHAR | $1,000,000 | $2,000,000 |
| D.C. HEBREW LANGUAGE CHARTER SCHOOL | $350,000 | $1,000,000 |
| DC SCHOLARS PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL INC | $1,000,000 | $2,000,000 |
| DIGITAL PIONEERS ACADEMY PUBLIC CHARTER | $350,000 | $1,000,000 |
| EAGLE ACADEMY PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL | $2,000,000 | $5,000,000 |
| EARLY CHILDHOOD ACADEMY | $350,000 | $1,000,000 |
| ELSIE WHITLOW STOKES COMMUNITY FREEDOM PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL | $1,000,000 | $2,000,000 |
| HARMONY DC PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLS | $150,000 | $350,000 |
| HOWARD UNIVERSITY PUBLIC CHARTER MIDDLE SCHOOL OF MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE | $350,000 | $1,000,000 |
| INTEGRATED DESIGN AND ELECTRONICS ACADEMY PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL | $350,000 | $1,000,000 |
| KINGSMAN ACADEMY PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL | $350,000 | $1,000,000 |
| LATIN AMERICAN MONTESSORI BILINGUAL PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL | $1,000,000 | $2,000,000 |
| LAYC CAREER ACADEMY | $150,000 | $350,000 |
| LEE MONTESSORI PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL | $350,000 | $1,000,000 |
| MARY MCLEOD BETHUNE DAY ACADEMY PCS | $1,000,000 | $2,000,000 |
| MAYA ANGELOU PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL | $1,000,000 | $2,000,000 |
| MONUMENT ACADEMY PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL | $350,000 | $1,000,000 |
| MUNDO VERDE PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL | $1,000,000 | $2,000,000 |
| NATIONAL COLLEGIATE PREPARATORY PUBLIC CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL | $350,000 | $1,000,000 |
| PAUL PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL INC | $2,000,000 | $5,000,000 |
| PERRY STREET PREPARATORY PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL | $150,000 | $350,000 |
| RICHARD WRIGHT PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL | $350,000 | $1,000,000 |
| ROOTS PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL, INC | $150,000 | $350,000 |
| SEE FOREVER FOUNDATION | $350,000 | $1,000,000 |
| SEED PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL OF WASHINGTON DC | $1,000,000 | $2,000,000 |
| STATEMENS COLLEGE PREPATORY ACADEMY FOR BOYS PCS | $150,000 | $350,000 |
| THE MERIDIAN PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL | $1,000,000 | $2,000,000 |
| THE SEED FOUNDATION INC | $350,000 | $1,000,000 |
| THURGOOD MARSHALL ACADEMY | $1,000,000 | $2,000,000 |
| WASHINGTON GLOBAL PUBIC CHARTER SCHOOL | $350,000 | $1,000,000 |
| WASHINGTON LEADERSHIP ACADEMY PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL | $350,000 | $1,000,000 |
| RANGE TOTALS | $24,500,000 | $57,100,000 |
