CTA Encouraging Local Schools to Apply for $200 Million in Funding for California's Schools of Greatest Need

SACRAMENTO - California Teachers Association President Wayne Johnson is urging teachers at the state's schools of greatest need to encourage their local districts to apply now for $200 million in new state funding made available after a forceful campaign waged by the 330,000-member CTA.

Assembly Bill 961 allocates $200 million to create the High Priority Grant Program for Low-Performing Schools. The program gives schools that rank in the bottom 10 percent in test scores as determined by the state's Academic Performance Index (API) an additional $400 per student. But in order to receive the money, school districts must submit their grant applications by Jan. 15, 2002.

"We made it our top budget priority this year to help these schools, and this new law is the first step toward leveling the playing field," Johnson said. "This legislation puts badly needed resources into the schools with the lowest test scores where poverty and overcrowding are setting students up to fail.

"The new law offers these distressed schools the flexibility to meet the specific needs of individual schools and the kinds of resources that educators have been fighting for," said Johnson. "Teachers must now make sure their school district follows through and applies for the grant program."

CTA is sending a letter and a sample grant application to all local Chapter Presidents and to teachers in these schools, urging them to get their schools to sign up for the new program.

For more information about California's schools of greatest need and AB 961, visit the CTA Web site at www.cta.org.

The CTA is affiliated with the 2.6 million-member National Education Association.