| Account | Description | FY 2014 GAA |
FY 2015 House 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7061-9412 | Extended Learning Time Grants For grants to cities, towns and regional school districts for planning and implementing expanded learning time in the form of longer school days or school years at selected schools; provided, that implementation grants shall only be provided under this item to schools and districts that submitted qualifying applications which were approved by the department in fiscal year 2014 and include a minimum of an additional 300 hours on a mandatory basis for all children attending that school; provided further, that in approving expanded learning time implementation grant applications, preference shall be given to districts with high poverty rates or a high percentage of students scoring in levels 1 or 2 on the MCAS, districts with proposals that have the greatest potential for district-wide impact, districts that plan to utilize partnerships with community-based organizations and institutions of higher education and districts with proposals that include a comprehensive restructuring of the entire school day or year to maximize the use of the additional learning time; provided further, that the department shall approve implementation proposals that include an appropriate mix of additional time spent on core academics, additional time spent on enrichment opportunities such as small group tutoring, homework help, music, arts, sports, physical activity, health and wellness programs, project-based experiential learning and additional time for teacher preparation or professional development; provided further, that the department shall only approve implementation proposals that assume not more than $1,300 per pupil per year in future state appropriations of expanded learning time implementation funds; provided further, that in extraordinary cases, the department may exceed the $1,300 per pupil per year limit; provided further, that the department shall review all qualified proposals and award approved grants not later than August 16, 2014; provided further, that, for this item, appropriated funds may be expended through August 31, 2015 to allow for planning and implementation during the summer months; provided further, that any grant funds distributed from this item to a city, town or regional school district shall be deposited with the treasurer of such city, town or regional school district and held in a separate account and shall be expended by the school committee of such city, town or regional school district without further appropriation, notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary; provided further, that no funds shall be expended for personnel costs at the department of elementary and secondary education; provided further that $3,000,000 shall be used to support grants to cities, towns and regional school districts for planning grants to support longer school days or years in schools where the majority of students are low-income; provided further that $1,000,000 shall be used to provide competitive grants to level 3 schools that are seeking an expanded school day or school year; and provided further, that funds may be used to support continuation of expanded learning time initiatives in schools previously using federal school improvement funds for this purpose and to support charter schools, including commonwealth charter schools, offering a longer school day |
14,168,030 | 18,168,067 |
Increased funding to support new initiative.