School districts lauded for securing grants

The old saying “Leave no stone unturned” could apply to many school districts today as they seek new sources of money during financially challenging times.

In recent years, The News-Herald has run numerous stories on area school districts struggling because of sharp declines in state funding, prompting the need to ask voters to approve additional levy revenue. And when levies are rejected by the electorate, school districts often must resort to cutting personnel or raising fees that students must pay for activities or sports.

It’s important for school districts to be creative and resourceful to stretch their dollars further, and one good way of doing this is by applying for and securing grants. We noticed a few examples of grants paying off for area school districts recently, and believe these efforts deserve a closer look.

Let’s begin with the Kirtland Schools, which secured a state grant to significantly reduce the cost of buying four new school buses.

The Kirtland School Board on May 29 approved $125,000 in matching funds to be used in combination with a $225,633 Ohio Environmental Protection Agency grant to purchase four 72-passenger buses. Those new buses, which will be bought from Cardinal Bus Sales in Lima, Ohio, are expected to be delivered by early winter, said Schools Superintendent Bill Wade.

Kirtland School District received an Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Diesel Emissions Reduction Grant to help fund the purchase. The district was among 52 applicants requesting more than $25 million in grant funding when it applied for the program in 2016. Kirtland Schools earned one of 29 grants awarded for a total of $12 million, and submitted one of only 11 school bus projects funded, a 2017 district news release stated.

First, we’d like to point out that this is an opportune time for Kirtland Schools to use this grant.

In the May 8 election, voters in the Kirtland School District rejected a 5.9-mill additional levy that would have generated $1,913,928 annually in funds and prevented the district from operating with a deficit budget.

While Kirtland Schools has worked hard to control expenses, the district also has seen a reduction of $831,000 in state funding since the 2011-2012 school year, Wade said prior to the May 8 election.

Immediately after the levy defeat, Wade said the School Board and district would “need to make some difficult decisions as we look at (the district’s) overall program.”

A number of those decisions were revealed on May 29, when the board unanimously approved a list of personnel cuts and fee increases for students.

Although the School Board also approved matching funds for the bus-purchase grant at that same meeting, it’s interesting to note that Kirtland Schools announced the grant award and authorized the school bus purchases in January 2017. The year-and-a-half delay resulted because a variety of federally funded initiatives — such as Diesel Emission Reduction Grants — were put on hold until a federal waiver for the Buy America requirement was issued.

Although Kirtland Schools had to wait for federal red tape to be unraveled, it’s clear to us that the district understands the importance of seeking grants on an ongoing basis. And because of that awareness, the district pursued and received a grant that will help buy the four new buses for the price of oneand-a-half buses. To us, that sounds like a good deal.

Separately, we also commend a consortium of five Lake County schools that will share a $500,000 grant to help improve students’ literacy skills. That funding is part of a $35 million grant Ohio recently received from the U.S. Department of Education.

According to a news release from Jennifer Polak, the Fairport Harbor School District’s pupil-personnel director, school districts throughout Ohio were awarded the Striving Readers Comprehensive Literacy Grant from the U.S. DOE to help students with difficulties learning to read. Local grants went to the Fairport Harbor, Perry and Riverside school districts, along with Lake Erie College and the Lake County Educational Services Center.

“Fairport Harbor, Riverside, Perry, the Lake County Educational Service Center, and Lake Erie College have developed a comprehensive literacy plan to improve outcomes for the students across our collective districts,” she said. “This generous award will allow us to specifically target literacy outcomes for our middle and high school students.”

Whether sought on an individual basis or through partnerships, area school districts must be on the lookout for grant opportunities and strive to cash in on these programs whenever possible.