Yes Prep Receives $10 Million Grant To Expand Charter Schools

Last year, the charter school network Yes Prep announced major plans to expand outside of its home in Houston.

Now it’s getting a financial boost from the federal government for that expansion.

“$10.4 million dollars! So we’re extremely excited!” says Jason Bernal, president of Yes Prep Public Schools.

The five-year grant is part of the U.S. Department of Education’s effort to help charter schools expand.

Right now Bernal oversees 13 campuses.

The grant will help open two schools in South Houston’s Sunnyside community next August.

It will also support the first Yes Prep campuses outside of Texas — starting with two schools in Memphis, Tennessee.

“We’re going to use the funds to have high-quality staff members, then also technology. When you have new schools, you have cabling. We want to buy more mobile apps; we want to have desktop computers so we have technology throughout all of our campuses,” Bernal says.

“Now what it doesn’t account for are the facilities and construction,” he adds.

That’s why Yes Prep is trying to raise about $60 million from private donors.

Another charter school network in the Valley, IDEA Public Schools, also received federal money.