SIG redux: same schools, fewer $s

01-13-2011

Blog by John Fensterwald/Educated Guess

Districts with 96 low-performing schools that missed out on federal dollars last year will soon be able to compete for $69 million to turn themselves around. But they’ll do so knowing that Congress may not appropriate more money in future years. If it doesn’t, they’ll have to make tumultuous changes in their schools with one third the money in one third the time – a gamble some districts may not be willing to take. On Tuesday, a newly constituted State Board of Education ambivalently authorized the Department of Education to move forward with the state’s application for the federal School Improvement Grant program. They found themselves once again with a list of schools and a process that they didn’t like. But trapped by a deadline that apparently forced their hands, they rejected critics’ pleas to throw out the list and start all over again. Last year, the Board approved $415 million in three-year grants to 92 out of 188 schools named as the state’s 5 percent lowest-achieving schools receiving anti-poverty Title I aid. Many were allotted the maximum grant of $6 million. That left 96 schools eligible to apply for this year’s smaller allotment of $69 million. Because there’s no guarantee of more federal money, and Republicans are threatening to cut the federal budget next year, the state Department of Ed conservatively wanted to make three-year grants again, with enough money for perhaps 10 schools. (more...)

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