PSS expects to get $3,600,675 from the federal stimulus law, or the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Thornburgh said of this amount, $489,692 will go to the private schools while PSS will get $2,570,882.
“The ARRA [grant] is a special supplement available for two years. It’s one time money available for two years. What we’re doing is targeting this money to address the extra needs,” he added.
These include the School Leadership Improvement program which has a $264,574 budget; a comprehensive review of standards and assessment in preparation for peer review, $180,000; the development of a growth model, $120,000; upgrading the PSS Web site, $120,000; Teacher Academy capacity building, $135,000; and establishing an electronic data system with a central archive and search engine, $150,000.
The other ongoing PSS programs that will get their share from the ARRA grants are the summer seminars for teachers, assisting teacher aides and counselors prepare and pass the Praxis tests and the community involvement program.
PSS is also receiving $3 million every year in consolidated federal grant money for a 10-year period.
While PSS will fund new programs with ARRA money, ongoing programs will continue to be funded by other grants, Thornburgh said
$81,015 of the ARRA fund is for state administration in monitoring the programs in the 20 public schools, he said.
Funds reserved for professional school improvement total $459,086 — $73,454 for private schools and $385,632 for public schools.
Of the public school allocation, $50,000 will go to professional development for teachers, counselors and school administrators; $120,000 for the summer reading program; $190,000 for network upgrades for schools; and $25,632 for public education programs.
Thornburgh said the development program allocation will be distributed fairly to all public schools.
PSS will base the distribution of funds on the number of students in each school.
