Medford Joins Race for Federal School Funding
January 27, 2010
Let the race begin!
Massachusetts is one of 40 states (along with Washington D.C.) to submit an application to the federal government for “Race to the Top” funding, as part of a new program meant to bolster school finances and improve the quality of education across the country.
“It is expected that approximately 16 states will actually be awarded money through the grant,” Superintendent of Schools Roy Belson said in a statement to the Medford School Committee Monday night.
According to Belson, the Massachusetts application was 950 pages long and was hand-delivered by Mitchell D. Chester, commissioner of elementary and secondary education, to representatives in Washington D.C. on Jan. 19.
If awarded the grant, Massachusetts will be eligible for approximately $250 million in new school funding. Half of the money will go directly to eligible and participating school districts through the Title I formula, and the other half will be reserved for target grant programs and services to be administered by the state.
It is expected that grants will be announced in April. School districts will have approximately 90 days to complete an action plan for review.
Medford expects to receive a minimum of $120,000 in additional funding through the states targeted grant rounds.
The Race to the Top (RTTT) program was announced last year by the Obama administration, as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The act was signed into law by President Obama on Feb. 17, 2009, and included plans to give $4.3 billion in RTTT funding to selected states.
Earlier this month, Obama announced plans to expand Race to the Top and request $1.35 billion for the program in his fiscal 2011 budge t.
“Improving the way we educate our sons and daughters, and offering our children an outstanding education is one of our most fundamental — perhaps our most fundamental — obligations as a country,” Obama said while speaking at Graham Road Elementary School in Falls Church, Va. last week. “Any country that out-educates us today will out-compete us tomorrow, and I refuse to let that happen on my watch.”
As part of the Massachusetts application, Medford was one of 256 school entities (including districts, regional systems and charter schools) that completed the “Memorandum of Understanding” that was required to participate in the program.
The memorandum required the signatures of the superintendent, School Committee chairperson and teachers’ union president. Sixty-one additional communities submitted applications with only two signatures, but last week the state confirmed that only applications with all three signatures would be accepted.
Belson said several statewide and regional meetings are currently being organized to prepare for the possibility of Massachusetts being selected as a RTTT recipient.
“We are working locally to identify the specific areas that funding under this grant could be most beneficial to Medford,” Belson said.