Education commission funds innovative school programs

The Nevada Commission on Educational Excellence awarded its second round of grants for innovative and creative school improvement programs Tuesday " a total of $17.64 million for the two-year budget cycle.

That is about half the $34.3 million schools requested.

The grants were made to groups of schools in each district that joined together to seek funding for multiple-school programs.

The so-called consortium grants followed June's awards of funding to individual schools throughout the state for specific programs. Those awards totaled $55.7 million.

Deputy Superintendent for Education Gloria Dopf said the Carson School District received three awards totaling $696,259. She said that is a very high percentage, about 81 percent, of the total $855,112 requested.

The Carson programs will provide training for teachers in how to work with students of limited English proficiency, support for teachers to help special education students join regular school classes and provide math coaches for two schools.

Douglas County School District received funding for the entire $306,000 it requested. Lyon was awarded $691,000 for two programs. The specific programs approved for those districts weren't immediately available.

Superintendent of Education Keith Rheault said four schools failed to receive any of the consortium grants: Churchill because district officials missed the deadline for submitting the application; Esmeralda, Nye and Storey because he said the grants were either not complete or not well enough written to qualify for funding.

Dopf told the commission that department staff hopes to have the checks mailed out to the districts within three weeks.

The total awarded thus far this biennium is just more than $73 million. That leaves $6.7 million of the $80 million appropriated by the Legislature. Dopf said that money will be combined with money reverting to the state from the 2005-2007 biennium's school excellence programs.

Any money a school was unable to use must be returned to the state. She said returned funding could be used for a variety of things, including grants to new schools that weren't open when this grant cycle began.

The educational excellence program grants were started by the 2005 Legislature.