State Education Commissioner Deborah Gist will be traveling to Washington this Thursday to finalize the level of funding Rhode Island will receive as a winner of the federal Race to the Top competition. On Aug. 24, the state was named a winner, joining nine other states and the District of Columbia as recipients of the funds.
The precise grant amount destined for Rhode Island has not yet been finalized, but the state applied for $75 million — the maximum amount it could receive based on student enrollment figures — according to a press release from the R.I. Department of Education. The national fund's total amount is $4.35 billion.
Gist will be meeting with representatives from the U.S. Department of Education to finalize Rhode Island's reward, though she said she expects the state will receive close to the full $75 million that it applied for, she said.
During the application process, states were evaluated on criteria including, but not limited to, plans for reform, sustainability of those reforms and assessment quality. Elliot Krieger, Gist's spokesperson, said teachers' unions also played a role in drafting the application.
Though the funds will be critical to the state, they do not represent a total "bonanza," Krieger said. The reward must be allocated according to the Race to the Top program's goals. With the broad goals to increase graduation rates and halve the achievement gap, the grant will be used more specifically to develop statewide curriculum and assessments for classrooms, Gist said.
Though the grant is a one-time opportunity, it will be disbursed over the course of four years instead of all at once.
Of the possible $75 million, Rhode Island budgeted for half of that amount to go directly to the school districts, Krieger said. Providence schools get the biggest cut at $18.4 million, followed by other urban districts including Pawtucket, Warwick and Cranston. But these values are likely to change once the final amount of the reward is decided upon, he said.
The state will use the rest of the money to fund other projects, including contractual and personnel budgets, according to the state's initial application.
