The Times-Picayune reported Tuesday morning that the U.S. Department of Education is handing the state another $10.1 million to help turn around its worst performing schools.
The Times-Picayune reported Tuesday morning that the U.S. Department of Education is handing the state another $10.1 million to help turn around its worst performing schools.
Part of the fed's School Improvement Grant program, the money will be directed toward an overhaul of campuses whose academic performance places them in the bottom 5 percent of schools in any given state.
"We're in this for the long haul," U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan told the T-P Tuesday. "It's so important to the country that we continue to focus on that bottom 5 percent of schools, where it's simply not working for children and their families and the broader community."
The T-P reports that Louisiana has received $89 million in total since Congress injected the grant program with stimulus funding in 2009.
Local school systems can apply for the extra cash, the T-P notes, but strings are attached. Districts have only a few options for a low performing school: replace the principal and in some cases most of the staff, convert it into a charter school or close the school altogether and make room for students at high performing schools.