Three proposed St. Louis charter schools got $50,000 from the Walton Family Foundation to help them plan their schools, the state charter school association announced this week.

The Active Minds Institute received $10,000 for a school set to open K-3 in 2011. Organizer Megan Green says the school will follow an “integrated curriculum” model, based on developing students’ critical thinking skills, according to the state association release, and aims to grow to K-8 or even K-12 in the future.

The Carondelet Leadership Academy received $30,000 for a K-5 school scheduled to open in South St. Louis’s Carondelet neighborhood in 2010. Lori Kindler, founding board president, said the school aims to grow a grade every year until 8th grade, with a 450 students, total, according to the state association release. The school will partner with American Quality Schools, a Chicago-based educational management company.

The Jamaa Learning Center got $10,000 for a business planning grant. Jamaa aims to open in The Ville neighborhood in North St. Louis. Trina Clark James, executive director for the center, said in the release that the school will offer after-hours classes and services to students, their families and community residents.

“Jamaa will serve as an anchor to the rebuilding of a once thriving urban community,” Clark James said in the release.