Feds grant La. $9.6M for lowest-performing schools

Louisiana is set to receive another $9.6 million from the U.S. Department of Education’s School Improvement Grant program, state officials announced Monday. The notification comes on the heels of an announcement last week by Louisiana Superintendent of Education John White that the department will use $5 million in existing state grant money to help improve underperforming schools graded D or F. Nearly 200,000 students in 59 of the 64 parishes across the state attend a school graded D or F. The Times-Picayune reports that Louisiana’s federal allocation announced Monday is the second largest of the 10 states to receive money through the program this year, trailing only Texas. In total this year, the program will award over $88 million to public schools nationwide. Louisiana has received $98 million since Congress injected the grant program with stimulus funding in 2009. The funding has gone toward turning around more than 100 schools statewide. The state estimates that this year’s funding will be enough to finance the turnaround of another 10 to 15 schools.