County Schools to Get $5 Million in State Awards

Educators were envisioning everything from new computers to science equipment and school landscaping Wednesday after more than $5 million in rewards were announced for Ventura County schools.

The money, part of Gov. Gray Davis’ public school accountability program, is tied to students’ performance on the Stanford 9 exam, a standardized test of reading, math and writing and other skills given each spring.

Those schools that met or exceeded state-imposed growth targets on test scores last year will receive $63 per student.

“We need everything from high-tech to low-tech,” said Tom Temprano, principal at Ventura’s Balboa Middle School, which was rewarded $75,223 for exceeding its growth target. “The cash is coming at a good time.”

The Governor’s Performance Award comes with few restrictions. The funds, which are expected to arrive in the next week, are intended for schoolwide use, and parent-teacher councils will be invited to help determine priorities.

Temprano said he already had collected wish lists from teachers in anticipation of the reward money, and requests ranged from a new computer lab to a heavy-duty stapler.

He said he was surprised by the large sum that his campus will receive, because so many schools had qualified for the $227 million in rewards that the state dropped the funding from the $150 per-student formula that was originally intended.

“I knew we had done well--and it was hard to pull all these 1,200-plus kids in the right direction,” he said.

Students at Thousand Oaks High School may be feted with a carnival, Principal Jo-Ann Yoos said. The 2,500-student school will be rewarded $150,257, the largest amount won in the county.

“We’ve been thinking about acknowledging the kids while they are still here,” Yoos said. “Since they can’t be acknowledged individually, they have to know it was their work that got us the money.”

Other priorities include an improved science lab and new video production equipment.

Sheryl Misenhimer, principal at Isbell Middle School in Santa Paula, could hardly contain her glee with the school’s reward of $65,789.

She said the teachers had put in extra effort to exceed the growth target, tutoring students before and after school. They also had put heavy emphasis on math and reading, she said.

“I am so proud of them,” Misenhimer said. “I’d like to yell, but I won’t.”

As expected, seven schools in the county that met the growth targets did not receive cash rewards, because state education officials had determined that too many parents at the schools excused their children from taking the Stanford 9. The state requires that 95% of elementary and middle school students and 90% of high school students sit for the annual exam to be eligible for rewards.

Bob Fraisse, superintendent of the Hueneme School District, said administrators will appeal the denial of the reward for Haycox School, where 23% of parents sought a waiver because their children speak English as a second language.

Schools that won reward money in this round are eligible for another pot of bonuses for teachers and other staff. That larger chunk, $350 million statewide, probably will be doled out in April. A third round of cash incentives will be handed out in late spring for the lowest-performing schools that demonstrated large gains on the Stanford 9.

*

FYI

The list of schools and award amounts is posted at https://www.cde.ca.gov/psaa/awards.