Lowest-scoring schools vie for special funds
San Francisco Chronicle 2/13/07
Some 1,455 low-scoring schools are eligible to compete for a share of the $2.9 billion windfall, including nearly 200 in the Bay Area.
But just 500 will be chosen.
"We could have spread it out to more schools, and it would never have been noticed,'' said Barbara Kerr, president of the California Teachers Association. "Those 500 schools will get what I believe every school should get. They will be the experiment."
The money comes from last year's legal settlement between Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and education advocates -- including the teachers' union and state schools chief Jack O'Connell -- who sued the governor, saying he failed to give schools their legally required share of the budget during the 2004-05 fiscal year.
The settlement produced the Quality Education Investment Act, signed into law last September. The law says that 500 low-scoring schools -- ranking a dismal 1 or 2 on the state's 10-point achievement scale -- will share an annual bounty for seven years.
The winning schools will annually receive $500 per pupil from kindergarten through grade 3; $900 from grades 4 through 8, and $1,000 for grades 9 through 12.
Mandela High is one of 51 schools in Oakland eligible to apply. Its scores hover below 90 percent of high schools in the state. Being chosen would mean an additional $340,000 per year, or nearly $2.4 million over seven years.
"Boy, what I could do with that," said Principal Robin Glover, taking a moment to dream.
Under the rules, each school submits a plan describing what school officials would do with the money. Mandela's classes are already small, having been created in 2004 when the Oakland school district broke up Fremont High into five smaller schools. And its teachers are already fully credentialed, Glover said.
But with nearly 70 percent of students speaking a language other than English, Mandela could be transformed by the money, she said.
Start with more teachers to provide individualized attention to Mandela's students, who need more basic help than your average teenager.
"That would be huge for me," Glover said. And although the school has a good counselor for its 340 students, "I would like someone who could just deal with goal-setting for after high school.
"It's a huge task."
Across the Bay in San Francisco, where 23 schools are eligible, Principal Kevin Truitt's 860 students at Mission High have a nail-biting dilemma: The counseling program that has helped triple Mission's college-acceptance rate to more than half the students is threatened with collapse. The program was born a few years ago when the Gates Foundation gave Mission High $1 million to hire teachers and counselors to support students in the many ways their families may not be able to. But the Gates money ran out, and the school had to cut its music program last year to keep it.
"We're really struggling right now," Truitt said. "We would just be so happy" to get this money.
Schools that get the money are supposed to exceed their school's test-score improvement goals for three years straight -- but there are no penalties for failing.
At least one school in each of California's 58 counties is assured of getting a share of the money, Superintendent O'Connell said. The remaining 442 will be a mix of urban, suburban and rural schools, he said.
The deadline to apply is March 30. Winners will be announced in May.
A complete list of eligible schools is available at www.cde.ca.gov/ta/lp/hp/documents/qeia07elig.xls.