By MARC KOVAC
Dix Capital Bureau Chief
COLUMBUS -- Ohio will receive $400 million in education grants over the next four years as part of a federal initiative aimed at improving schools, a portion of which will come to Minerva and Brown Local school districts.
The U.S. Department of Education announced Tuesday, Aug. 26, that Ohio was one of nine states awarded funding as part of the second round of its Race to the Top program.
Minerva Local School District will receive $249,107.50, and Brown Local School District will receive $119,877.21.
The districts are now in a planning phase and have until November to design programs to utilize the funds, according to superintendents Connie Griffin of Brown Local and Doug Marrah of Minerva. The earliest funds will be accessible from USDOE is Dec. 1.
Race to the Top is a competitive grant program created as part of federal stimulus legislation last year. The grant funds are to be used to help local school districts and public charter schools improve: 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.
"Our task at this point is to plan for the implementation of innovative changes to address the goals of the grant," Griffin said. "We look forward to using these specifically targeted funds to address improvement initiatives for our school district."
It was the state's second attempt at the funds, following a first round earlier this year in which only two states received grants.
"This is really a historic moment for Ohio," said Deborah Delisle, the state's superintendent of public instruction. "I think in four years, we're going to look back and think about this as a real turning point in our educational reform for students."
She added, "This will enable us to deepen the work and our focus on Ohio's children."
A total of 538 Ohio school districts and charter schools, serving about 1 million students, will receive direct funding through Race to the Top.
Other schools that did not participate in the application process also will benefit, through professional development funding and other programs that will be open to all teachers, Delisle said.
The funding will build on the education reform legislation passed by lawmakers and signed into law last year, Gov. Ted Strickland told reporters Tuesday.
"We put in place many of the reforms that were asked of us through the Race to the Top effort," he said. "We were ahead of the game, so to speak. Many other states had to scramble to try to get legislation passed in order to even be able to compete."
Marc Kovac is the Dix Capital Bureau chief. E-mail him at mkovac@dixcom.com or on Twitter at OhioCapitalBlog.
Denise Freeland, News Leader staff writer, contributed to this article.
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