School Improvement Grant (SIG) Funding Approved by Legislature
Description: State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell thanked the state Legislature for passing Senate Bill (SB) 847, coauthored by Senate President pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg and Assembly Speaker John Perez; Assembly Bill (AB) 185, authored by Assembly member Joan Buchanan, and urged Governor Schwarzenegger to quickly sign both measures so urgently needed federal stimulus funds can be disbursed to California schools. AB 185 provides the California Department of Education (CDE) with the authority to distribute nearly $904 million from two federal programs:
$416 million is provided for districts that have schools participating in the School Improvement Grant program. The participating schools must implement one of four specified school intervention models to turn around the achievement of their students.
$488 million is for Phase II of the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund program. About $271 million will be distributed to K–12 schools, with the remaining funds going to institutions for higher education. The K–12 funds will be distributed based on cuts to district revenue limit (general purpose) funding.
The federal School Improvement Grants program is authorized under Section 1003(g) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act that is intended to provide all children equal access to education. SIG is designed to improve student achievement in schools identified for program improvement, corrective action, or restructuring.
URL: http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/sw/t1/sig09.asp