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Memphis City Schools will spend most of its federal Race to the Top funds on its most troubled schools, according to MCS officials, extending the school day, paying stipends to principals who turn schools around and setting aside millions for an outside firm to execute the plan.
Deputy Supt. Irving Hamer presented an outline of the plan to the school board Monday night, detailing steps the district will implement in its share of federal funding. The state approved $68 million for the MCS proposal this month.
By the fall of 2011, the eight lowest-achieving schools -- Frayser High, Hamilton High, Kingsbury High, Manassas High, Northside High, Raleigh-Egypt Middle School, Sheffield High and Trezevant High -- will have a longer school year as the district is forced to implement strategies that have worked elsewhere.
Starting with 2010-11, teachers in those schools will be trained in the new expectations.
The district has not yet selected the firm that will oversee work on the eight most-troubled schools.
The $500 million in federal funds awarded Tennessee will begin flowing into the state July 1. City schools will receive the $68 million over four years, more than any other district. While it had great latitude in determining its plan, it had to meet state and federal guidelines, including that it chose federal models for fixing schools that have abysmal graduation rates, test scores or both.
Supt. Kriner Cash chose models that require principals in place more than three years be replaced. And in one model, only half of the staff will be allowed to stay. Decisions about who stays and who goes will begin this summer, especially at the principal level.
The school board got the skeleton of the plan Monday night and will discuss it next Monday. Board approval is not needed for the plan.
Tennessee was one of two states awarded Race to the Top stimulus dollars. Delaware, the other winner, received $100 million.
Under Tennessee's application, the chronically underperforming schools will be aligned in a special "achievement district" that was to be managed by the state. While the city schools will be expected to turn oversight over to a third party, the schools will not be taken over by the state as originally expected.
"I think it demonstrates that the state has confidence in our plans and proposals we have put together with the Gates Foundation," board member Betty Mallott said after the meeting.
"That the state modeled its proposal to get the Race to the Top based on the our work with the Gates Foundation is a further endorsement of their confidence in the Memphis City Schools district," she said.
Memphis is combining its allotment with other federal funds for improving schools for a total of $134.2 million.
Of that, $96 million will be spent on the 29 lowest-performing schools, including adding more prekindergarten classrooms there. But the bulk will go to the eight chronic low performers, including $15 million for the outside partner, $10 million to extend the school year and $25.5 million in other measures to be fleshed out later.
"We are breathing a little lighter," Hamer told the board. "It's been a heavy lift, but we did have distinct advantage of having done the proposal for the teacher effectiveness initiative. It absolutely complements what we are doing here."
