USD 235 qualifies for $19,000 in REAP grant funding

UNIONTOWN -- USD 235 is expected to receive more than $19,000 this year from a federal grant program that helps smaller rural school districts across the state with funding for operations.

During their regular meeting at 7:30 p.m. Monday in the Uniontown Junior Senior High School commons area, 601 Fifth St., the USD 235 Board of Education is scheduled to vote on accepting a $19,397 Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP) grant, a federal grant designed to help rural schools across the country overcome additional costs incurred due to their geographic isolation, smaller number of students and lower income levels.

"It's a federal grant that helps schools that are rural and have certain poverty levels," USD 235 Superintendent Randy Rockhold said. "We will use it for at-risk programs and those costs."

U-235 has budgeted about $3.8 million in spending for the 2006-07 school year, including nearly $380,000 in spending on district at-risk programs, which are designed to aid students who are in danger of failing academically. U-235 has already qualified to receive the money, but must obtain final approval from the board before accepting the grant, Rockhold said.

The REAP grant program is beneficial to a district such as U-235, which fits the description of being both a small district with an enrollment of about 500 pre-school through 12th grade students, and a district that is located about 18 miles west of Fort Scott in a rural portion of western Bourbon County. In order to qualify for the REAP grant, school districts must be classified as rural by a governmental agency of the state, have a population density of less than 10 people per square mile, and have a total average daily attendance of less than 600 students.

"The (REAP) program helps supplement offerings we already have," Rockhold said. "We've been using it to upgrade technology tools. Whatever we can do to provide better learning opportunities."

For the third consecutive year, President Bush has included funding for REAP in his budget for 2007, and recognized the importance of this critical rural education funding stream, according to the Center for Rural Education and Small Schools, a college of education in Manhattan.

The REAP program also provides necessary resources to aid rural school districts in meeting the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act -- which outlines student accountability and achievement requirements -- initiated by Bush in 2002, the center's Internet site said.

Funding from the REAP program has helped districts increase reading achievement through the hiring of reading specialists, update their technology through the purchasing of computers for students, and hire highly qualified teachers.

As other federal education programs are cut or eliminated, REAP funding becomes even more important to help fill the funding shortfall in many rural districts, according to the Web site.

The REAP program received nearly $170 million in federal funding for 2006, and Bush has requested the same amount of funding for 2007, the Web site said.

In other business on Monday, board member Jeanne Camac is scheduled to discuss with Rockhold and the board a series of topics from a recent Kansas Association of School Boards meeting that she attended. Camac is the governmental relations contact for the board and keeps board members informed of recent action by the Kansas Legislature and other important events that affect USD 235, Rockhold said.

The board is also scheduled to:

* Listen to a report from USD 235 Board of Education Vice President John Ericson on the most recent meeting of the Southeast Kansas Interlocal No. 637, a collaborative effort by 13 area school districts to provide special education services. Ericson is the board's representative on the committee.

* Hear administrative reports from Rockhold, West Bourbon Elementary School Principal Marianna Daugherty, and Uniontown Junior Senior High School Principal Tracy Smith.

The board is also scheduled to conduct an executive session dealing with personnel matters and to discuss confidential data regarding a trust. The meeting is open to the public.