Valley’s neediest schools will get federal aid
More than $81 million of federal funding will be given to the Clark County School District in the 2012-13 school year to assist schools with high populations of poor students.
The money is a renewal of annual funds from the Elementary Secondary Education Act, given to the country's neediest schools.
On Thursday, the Clark County School Board approved the use of these funds in schools where 40 percent of the enrollments are on free and reduced lunch, the main barometer for calculating how many students live in poverty. To qualify for the federal lunch program, a family of four's income must be less than $23,050.
In the past, 75 percent of a school's students had to qualify for free or reduced lunch, limiting the funding to far fewer schools.
Now, about 43 percent of the money will go directly to 224 of the district's 357 schools to fund 199 additional teacher positions for the upcoming school year. The remaining money will fund pre-kindergarten programs and Title I HOPE centers, which assist homeless students and their families, and will be used to support the district's professional development efforts for core subjects, such as English and math.
Contact reporter Trevon Milliard at
tmilliard@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0279.
