Leechburg Area Districts Don’t Apply for Federal School Reform Grants

January 15, 2010

The loss of local control over educational services was one reason Leechburg Area School District officials decided not to apply for federal school reform grants, said Superintendent Jim Budzilek.

"This reform model almost seemed to be too much of a state and federal mandate," he said.

Leechburg is one of five districts in the county or districts that teach county students that are opting out of participating in the federal government’s "Race to the Top" competitive grant program. Any district receiving funding must use federal benchmarks and standards and report their progress.

The program is funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Grants will encourage and award states that are implementing reforms in four areas — enhancing standards and assessments, improving the collection and use of data, increasing teacher effectiveness and achieving equity in te acher distribution and turning around struggling schools, according to the program’s Web site.

"We already do a lot of the components that are in the ‘Race to the Top’ program," Budzilek said.

Though some school directors and members of administration are in favor of school reform, he said, most were opposed to federal and state policies being pushed to the local level.

Plus, "there was a very quick turnaround on" the application process, he said.

Armstrong School District is the lone district in the county applying for a piece of potential funding, said Superintendent William Kerr. The district has an opportunity to receive between $1 million and $3 million, depending on whether or not Pennsylvania is awarded funding and how many districts in the state applied.

Kerr said he believes Pennsylvania is a good candidate to win because of all of the educational advancements the state has enacted. The district is making an attempt to receive funding, Kerr said, because some of the objectives are things districts will have to meet anyway.

"Armstrong School District’s not in a position to turn its back on extra money," he said. "We would be foolish to do that."

If the state receives funding, the district will have 90 days to create an "action plan," Kerr said, and the district’s organized teachers will be involved in the creation of that proposal.

"We’re real pleased to report that the school board, the administration and the union leadership are all on board," Kerr said.

To be competitive with other countries, Kerr said, he believes that there will be continued efforts for national standards and accountability.

&l t;p>"It’s a national priority for all school districts to ratchet up the rigor … (to) improve education," he said. "We live in time of transformation in order to remain competitive with China, India, Korea and Germany. The federal government clearly understands that they need to infuse more dollars."

Karns City Area School District Superintendent Larry Henry said the program came with a lot of "unknowns" and that factored into the district’s decision not to participate.

"It’s just too much uncertainty," he said.

Apollo-Ridge School District Superintendent Peggy DiNinno agreed that some of the components of the program were unclear. DiNinno said many of the program requirements are aligned with what the district is already doing, which led to the decision to not participate in the application process.

"We have a lot of plans already in place to move forward," she said. "We did a lot of research on this."

The U.S. Department of Education will make awards in the spring and September.