Secretary Spellings Awards Over $38 Million to 20 States in School Improvement Grants

U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings today announced $38 million to twenty States in School Improvement Grants to help turn around low-performing schools, bringing the total awarded to date to over $90 million in 41 States. The grants will help States take a greater role in developing and delivering comprehensive leadership and technical assistance to help reform schools and districts that are not making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).

“No Child Left Behind shines a spotlight on schools and holds them accountable for results. School Improvement Grants support the steps States and school districts are taking to improve standards and outcomes in low-performing schools so that our nation’s students can succeed in classroom and beyond,” said Secretary Spellings.

School Improvement Grants help States and districts fulfill their responsibilities to improve schools and ensure that all students are reading and doing math on grade-level by 2014. Under No Child Left Behind, a school is considered in need of improvement if it does not make AYP for at least two consecutive years. These grant will help meet a growing demand for more comprehensive improvement measures so States and schools can work to address problems before facing restructuring.

The U.S. Department of Education will award a total of $125 million in School Improvement Grants this year. The allocation of funds is based on the Title I allocation for each state. Following are the twenty States and grant amounts awarded today.
*Alaska $387,886
*Arizona $2,559,460
*Colorado $1,233,591
*Connecticut $1,072,455
*District of Columbia $430,133
*Georgia $3,975,771
*Iowa $675,321
*Kentucky $1,828,604
*Michigan $4,472,453
*Minnesota $1,103,590
*Missouri $1,939,187
*New Mexico $948,538
*North Dakota $284,321
*Oklahoma $1,194,184
*Rhode Island $487,186
*South Dakota $361,862
*Texas $11,556,803
*Virginia $1,954,005
*Washington $1,883,922
*Wyoming $272,871

On December 20, 2007, Secretary Spellings awarded the following twenty-one States School Improvement Grants.
*Alabama $1,861,720
*Arkansas $1,190,751
*California $16,620,295
*Delaware $328,808
*Florida $5,729,854
*Hawaii $358,793
*Idaho $431,188
*Indiana $2,253,964
*Maryland $1,804,240
*Montana $361,711
*Nebraska $527,388
*Nevada $771,291
*New Jersey $2,397,833
*Ohio $4,325,232
*Oregon $1,259,126
*Pennsylvania $5,021,980
*South Carolina $1,814,877
*Tennessee $1,961,679
*Utah $576,478
*West Virginia $796,450
*Wisconsin $1,936,898

Additional information on School Improvement Grants is available online at http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/guid/stateletters/schimpfundappl.pdf.