The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation publicly welcomed and commended the Austin District-Charter Collaboration Compact—composed of the Austin Independent School District and local charter schools—on Feb. 28 at the KIPP Austin Public Schools campus.

The foundation has granted the compact $100,000 to support collaboration between the schools. Additionally, the Austin compact will allow the involved institutions an opportunity to compete for further funding from $44 million in grants, said Vicki L. Phillips, director of education with the foundation's College Ready in the United States Program.

"District and charter leaders in Austin have signed this historic compact as an outward symbol that they are ready and willing to make an unprecedented, public commitment to work together for the benefit of all students in their city," Phillips said. "The Gates Foundation is proud to support this community where education leaders want to learn from each other and build upon successful practices, whether those practices are found in district-run or charter-run schools."

Austin is among 15 other cities in the United States to have such a compact. The group took the opportunity to state its dedication to pooling resources in order to improve education in Austin, especially in areas with high need.

"A formal collaboration creates the opportunity to provide higher-quality education programming and services for all Austin students in the public education system," AISD Superintendent Meria Carstarphen said. "I just think that's it going to be—at least in our early conversations—where everyone is on the forefront first: focus on kids, focus on the people who are in front of kids, [the] teachers."

The Austin Compact is composed of AISD, Eden Park Academy, Harmony Public Schools, NYOS Charter School, Responsive Education Solutions, Educate Texas, Texas Charter Schools Association and UT Elementary School.

"It's great to see charter leaders and the Austin Independent School District working together on common challenges and opportunities facing students in Central Texas," said John Fitzpatrick, executive director of Educate Texas. "Innovative partnerships focused on creating learning environments that produce high-quality teaching and personalized learning for all students, regardless of governance structure, are key to Austin's long-term success."

Still in question is how the collaborative will preside over the revenue it receives.

"One of the first things we are going to do is figure out our governance and decision-making structure," said Steven Epstein, KIPP Austin chief academic officer. "In terms of beyond revenue sharing and the $100,000 grant, as charters we have tremendous opportunity to benefit from an organization the size of AISD."

Other cities that boast compacts: Baltimore; Boston; Central Falls, R.I.; Chicago; Denver; Hartford, Conn.; Los Angeles; Minneapolis; Nashville; New Orleans; New York; Philadelphia; Rochester, N.Y.; Sacramento and Spring Branch, Texas.