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Local schools receive Race to the Top funding
(by Alexa Libert and Rick Palsgrove - September 03, 2010)
Both Reynoldsburg and Pickerington schools are slated to receive federal Race to the Top funding.
Reynoldsburg will receive $728,917, while Pickerington will get $273,493.
Nearly 60 percent of Ohio’s public and charter schools participated in the U.S. Department of Education’s Race to the Top program, according to the Ohio Department of Education (ODE).
The amount of funding each school received was determined by a formula required by the federal government and it is tied to Title I funding. Ohio will receive $400 million in Race to the Top funds during the next four years.
According to the ODE, Race to the Top is an approximately $4 billion national, competitive education grant program with goals of improving: college and career ready academic standards; data systems for tracking progress and improving instruction; teacher and principal effectiveness; and performance among the lowest performing schools.
Neither Reynoldsburg nor Pickerington schools know when they will receive the money or specifically how it will be used.
“We haven’t really begun the process yet,” said Tricia Moore, coordinator of Community Outreach for the Reynoldsburg Schools district. “We will work under their guidance.”
Moore said her district will assess where it is now and where it needs to be, and then will outline steps identifying how to achieve those goals.
Pickerington Schools representative Kim Halley said the next step for her district is to present a final scope of work.
Pickerington plans to have its submitted by the end of September or early October.
Each district also has a webinar with the ODE on Sept. 1 that will discuss what the final scope of work should entail and how assembled committees will help the districts prepare for the next step.
Julie Daubenmire of the ODE said the ODE plans to meet with the U.S. Department of Education this fall to go over Race to the Top spending guidelines.
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