At lat week’s School Committee meeting Ms. Gormley and Mr. Huban updated the committee on a session the Secretary of Education had with representatives of school districts to apply for funding from a federal program. Race to the Top. The amount of funding available to a district is determined by a formula that factors in a district’s Title 1 status. Milton would have been eligible for approximately $84,000 over four years.

The funding is contingent on signatures from a district’s school committee, administration, and union. The unions are reluctant to agree because of issue related to compensation and tying compensation to student test scores. Milton will not be pursuing the funding. Ms. Kelly of the School Committee voiced her disappointment on this. Milton is not alone. As Mr. Pavlicek pointed out, few schools are signing on and most of those that have are charter schools. Mr. Huban said that the session was lacking in details and that he had overheard on school official characterize the pitch as being similar to time share, “Just sign on the dotted line.”

Following is an article from the Patriot Ledger reporting on south shore districts and the Race to the Top initiative.

from The Patriot Ledger

Many South Shore school districts take themselves out of the running for federal grants