While 45 other states have filed applications for more than $3.5 billion in federal School Improvement Grants, California missed the Feb. 22nd deadline and will turn it in sometime next week. Maybe.
Once it is in, Washington hopes to review it in ten days. With follow up questions, it’s unlikely to be approved earlier than late April or early May, said Carlas McCauley, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Education. That would give school districts three to four months to make major decisions on school reform.
Tina Jung, a spokesperson for the state department of education said California had been delayed in submitting its application because it requested several waivers that needed multiple approvals. Other states, including New Hampshire and Wyoming, have applied for similar waivers.
The lateness will not impact the department’s decision, but it could have far-reaching implications for the 188 schools California classified this week as low-performing.
The designation means the schools are eligible for funds tied to one of four dramatic changes that must be implemented when the new school year begins.
Mission Loc@l is following this process closely because six of San Francisco’s 12 low-performing schools are located in the Mission District. The schools could qualify for grants anywhere from $50,000 to $2 million a year for three years.
Teachers and administrators at the affected schools got word of their situation on Tuesday and had yet to fully understand the implications. It’s clear, however, that if money is to be had, the changes will be big.
Richard Duber, who is in his first year as the principal of John O’Connell High School in the Mission, was surprised by Tuesday’s news and still trying to figure out what it meant. “We are constantly evaluating and reevaluating the purposefulness of each (program) but I would say we are on target,” he said. “Money always provides options when you consider that California is at the very bottom in terms of funding. So clearly more money would change things.”
He said he would update the school’s slow-to-boot-up computers and add more resources for the Advanced Placement classes.
The guidelines for funding, however, envision nearly complete restructuring. They offer three options to keep a school open and one that calls for closure. The decision on what option will be required for each school will be made – with community consultation – at the district level.
The so-called turnaround model means replacing the principal and no more than half the existing staff. To see how this has worked, the Department of Education recommends looking at the Chicago Academy for Urban School Leadership in Chicago, and Green Dot in Los Angeles.
The restart model calls for conversion to a charter school. Washington offers Mastery Schools in Philadelphia as an example of a success story.
The transformation mode requires replacing the principal and reforming instruction including adding instructional hours. The Hamilton County district in Tennessee, “is widely recognized as a school reform success story,” the U.S. Department of Education’s web site says.
California’s application for the School Improvement Grant is the first step in the process and although the decisions on each school will be made by the district, the state will monitor the eventual changes.
In the application that Washington is expecting some time next week, California must outline the criteria it will use to evaluate the plans it gets from local authorities such as the San Francisco Unified School District.
The state must also submit a time line for approving district plans. If the state intends to take over any schools, it must identify the schools in its initial application.
Once the state application has been approved, local school districts will begin the process of evaluating the options for each affected school.
The complete list of California schools can be found here.
The schools in the Mission District include two elementary schools – Cesar Chavez and Bryant; two middle schools – Horace and Everett and the two high schools – John O’Connell and Mission High School.
The other San Francisco schools include four elementary schools – Willie L. Brown Jr., Carver, John Muir and Paul Revere and two high schools – Burton and Thurgood Marshall.