Carson City School District is Department of Education 'Race to the Top' finalist
The Carson City School District is a finalist for millions of dollars in federal money through the U.S. Department of Education's Race to the Top program. Grants range from $5 million to $40 million.
Superintendent Richard Stokes said he learned the district was a finalist on Monday. There were 61 applications for the money.
The district applied for the grant this fall and should know by the end of the year if it was accepted. The grant was built by a team of teachers, the district's grant department and community members who gave freely of their time.
"We are happy with the outcome thus far. We will keep our fingers crossed and hope to be successful in the end," Stokes said.
Carson City School District developed the grant application by looking at ways it teaches and developed the grant based on specific educational reforms, Stokes said.
The grant application is based on a system of aligning curriculum with a system of assessments, he said.
For example if there is a 10th grade social studies curriculum offered the district would make sure all the students taking the classes are presented with specific curriculum, are able to develop an understanding and mastery of it and are tested on it to see they have met levels of competency aimed at college and career readiness, he said.
The second part is to create a data system that would be used to keep track of how this would function in evaluating performance, including teacher development.
Given the district's $5.5 million budget deficit, some may wonder whether grant money, if awarded, could be used to solve the deficit.
"Unfortunately this money could not be used for any other repurpose other than the intended grant application," said Stokes. "What can happen is if any individuals did get caught up in the layoffs, we could consider hiring them to do work associated with the grant application."
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