$1.2 million Madison schools foundation grant targets achievement gap

Matthew DeFour:

Two yet-to-be-determined Madison elementary schools will split a $1.2 million grant to accelerate low-income and minority student achievement, the Foundation for Madison's Public Schools announced Wednesday.

School Board member Mary Burke contributed the funding for the grant, which will be awarded in $200,000 installments over three years.

The foundation currently distributes about $400,000 a year to Madison schools, so the grant will double that amount, foundation executive director Stephanie Hayden said. The goal of the grant is to demonstrate that closing the achievement gap can be done more quickly than currently expected.

"We would hope that others in the community would step forward and fund similar things," Hayden said. "We really view these as a demonstration project to show it can be done."

The eligible non-charter schools must have at least 50 percent of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Eighteen elementary schools meet that threshold this year.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at December 19, 2012 8:06 PM
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