Public School System federal programs officer Tim Thornburgh said access to the funds was approved this month, the first of fiscal year 2009.
The grant, he added, will allow PSS to meet its goals: 80 percent of students should be reading at, or above, grade level this year; they should be scoring at the 50th percentile or higher on SAT 10 by 2010; and they should be scoring proficiently or above the standards in 2014.
From the total $9.177 million federal assistance, over $800,000 will be reserved for assessment while the remaining $8.377 million will go to state administration, professional school improvements and per-school allocation.
Thornburgh said $8.3 million, or 85 percent of the total grant amount, will be used for school needs.
Private schools will get $1.139 million of this amount while public schools will receive $5.981 million.
Of the $5.981 million allocation for public schools, $3 million will fund instructional materials and equipment; $1.485 million will pay for the salaries of 32 teachers under the class size reduction program; $200,000 is allocated for professional development for principals; while tutorials and mentoring will get $1.048 million, which covers the salaries for the Troops to Teachers and junior and high school after-school programs.
$247,246 from the federal grant will pay for the salaries of 24 reading resource teachers.
Professional school improvements will get $1.068 million of which $170,895 is allotted for private schools.
The public school allocations of $897,204 will fund the Saturday reading program, $100,000; the networked computers and scanners, $500,000; academic competitions, $252,000; and monitoring and mentoring novice teachers, $45,204.
From the $188,488 for state administration, the Read Today program and other public education activities will get $78,488 while $110,000 is allocated for the monitoring of programs at public and private schools.
