Smaller schools struggle to get grants
Smaller school districts say the increasingly large commitments of time required to apply for critical grant funding puts them at a competitive disadvantage.
"That's one more task we have on our plates," said Michael Panza, superintendent in the Carlynton School District, which has an enrollment of about 1,440 students, well below the state average, and no dedicated grant writer. "So you have to decide which is the important (grant); which is the one that if you invest the time it will pay off."
The recession has limited available funding, so the state and federal governments and private funders are asking applicants to present much more detailed proposals than in the past. State education subsidies haven't kept up with increased costs hitting school districts, which along with declines in local tax revenue has made securing competitive grants more important than ever.
"In some cases I feel like we have to work harder because we become so dependent on the grant funding because we are smaller and can't finance programs on our own," said Alisa King, principal at South Allegheny Elementary School, where a private grant supports behavioral health services. South Allegheny School District has about 1,500 students.
Of the 14 school districts in the state recently receiving a federal grant to improve struggling schools, 10 had an enrollment higher than the state average of 3,600.
In many smaller districts, the task of applying for grants falls to administrators and sometimes teachers. The process can take months.
A district must include a school needs assessment covering the classroom to the cafeteria; an outline of how the district would implement what the grant would fund, and document that it has the resources to do so. The district must show how the money would raise student achievement, including yearly targets. Multi-year grants require this information each year plus the inclusion of a plan to measure effectiveness.
"There are a lot more strings attached than there used to be," said Leslie McConnell, a grant development specialist for the Allegheny Intermediate Unit, which supports suburban schools.
Still, there are success stories. Turkeyfoot Valley School District, in Somerset County — where the enrollment is 330 students — won a nearly $900,000 federal grant last month.
"It was the most time-consuming, hardest grant that I've ever written in all my years in the district," said Christine Keefer, director of federal programs and grant writer.
She said it took months to complete a needs assessment and improvement plan. Then, she spent at least 100 hours during a three-week period completing the grant application. Detailing what kind of training and how teachers would receive it over a three-year period was extremely difficult, she said.
The grant, which will go toward teacher training and academic programs at the high school, would benefit about 165 students, she said.
Gregg Behr, executive director of the Grable Foundation, Downtown, said no school is at a disadvantage in his organization's eyes. Along with the Benedum Foundation, it recently awarded 35 grants to districts in four counties to help them bolster science, technology, engineering and math programs. Of those, 26 went to districts with an enrollment higher than the state average.
"If a school is doing something great by kids, and it's something where we can be helpful to them, we review all proposals similarly," he said.
Debbie Beucker, assistant principal at Highlands High School, who doubles as the district's grant writer, said she has an 89 percent success rate, bringing in $1.7 million since 2005-06. Highlands enrolls about 2,000 students.
"I look to make sure the grant parameters meet our needs," she said. "Sometimes, parameters are written so that a smaller district wouldn't be able to get it."
The Allegheny Intermediate Unit offers a grant-writing course. Specialists from the intermediate unit also assist districts in preparing applications. State Department of Education staff also are "more than willing" to help, a spokeswoman said.
But the persistent dilemma for small districts is finding the time to apply for grants. It's difficult to break away from everyday duties, said Ron Dufalla, Brentwood School District superintendent.
"A seriously competitive grant takes skill and practice, and we don't have the time or manpower to do that," he said.
