Will RI's "Race to the Top" $75M Grant Help Middletown Schools Close Budget Gap?

With the opening bell for the 2010-2001 school year less than two weeks away, the Middletown School Committee will gets its first look at the new budget Thursday, Aug. 26, 2010, with a last-minute addition of "Race to the Top" federal grant monies thrown in.

Going into the meeting, Middletown school department officials have reportedly been working over the summer to narrow a gap of about $156,000 to make ends meet for its $34.6 million annual budget.

Superintendent Rosemarie Kraeger has said she's been looking to make adjustments to compensate for the deficit without laying off staff, but instead was considering cutting positions that have become vacant due to recent retirements, without saying specifically which positions those are. Kraegar has declined getting into specifics until the budget is presented to the School Committee Thursday, except to say that other vulnerable areas were sports programs and extracurricular activities.

But that was before this week's announcement by the Obama Administration that Rhode Island is one of nine states moving to the next round of the "Race to the Top" competition for additional federal grant monies for education, in which Rhode Island public schools collectively stand to receive about $75 million in additional funding.

Right now, Middletown stands to gain $184,201 over the next four years, or $46,050.20 per year, according to early released figures. However, federal guidelines require that those funds be applied toward specific "Race to the Top" programs for which the State of Rhode Island had committed when competing for the funding.

The nationwide federal competition rewards individual states for implementing education reforms and Rhode Island reportedly committed to more teacher training, developed a new teacher evaluation system, came up with a new statewide budget, and took other steps.

Also Thursday, other Middletown School Committee agenda items include:

• Ocean State Transit.
• Collective Bargaining.
• Contracts.
• Reopen Early Retirement.
• Student Teacher Policy.
• Budget Update.
• School-Based Clinics 2010-2011.
• Interstate Compact.

The Middletown School Committee meets Thursday, Aug. 26, 2010 at 5pm for closed Executive Session, followed by a public meeting at 6 pm in the Oliphant Conference Room (Lower Level) at the Middletown Public Schools Department. To view the complete agenda, download the PDF file available here, at right, or visit the Middletown Public Schools website.