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SDL is getting $3.37 million in Title 1 grants through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to support programs designed to help students from low-income families.
That money is in addition to the $5.4 million in federal Title 1 funding SDL is already getting this year.
The stimulus funds, which will boost the district's Title 1 budget by about 29 percent per year, must be spent by the end of 2010-11.
After that, the money disappears.
Because of the short life span of the grants, the district faced a challenge in selecting projects, said Matt Przywara, SDL's chief financial officer.
"Anything you put in place is going to have ongoing costs, so it's a difficult balance between maximizing the biggest purchase you can with a minimal back-end cost," he said.
Instead of creating new programs it won't be able to sustain when funding runs out, SDL chose to expand existing ones and invest heavily in professional development and other training, new teaching materials, supplies and equipment.
The new and expanded programs will impact thousands of SDL students, said Arthur Abrom, coordinator of federal programs and school improvement.
In all, the grants will pay for 10 new full-time positions and several summer school teachers.
The biggest expenditure is more than $1 million to expand the Read 180 reading intervention program at the district's four middle schools.
SDL plans to hire four teachers and four assistants and purchase $80,000 worth of materials to support the program.
Read 180 uses differentiated instruction, adaptive software, high-interest literature and direct instruction in reading, writing and vocabulary to help students whose reading skills are below the proficient level.
"Our hope is that two years from now, we could continue with this program," Abrom said.
Here are some of the other projects SDL plans to fund with Title 1 stimulus grants:
• Spending $973,000 to expand the Lead to Learn professional development program from eight to 12 schools.
Lead to Learn includes teacher training on classroom best practices and coaching designed to get students more engaged in lessons.
Training is already under way at Buchanan, King, Price, Ross and Washington elementary schools and at Lincoln and Reynolds middle schools.
Teachers in one small learning community at McCaskey High School also are involved.
Przywara said expanding Lead to Learn "is a good onetime expenditure that hopefully will pay off in improved teacher instruction."
The district has yet to decide which four schools will be added to the program, Abrom said.
• Spending $343,604 on two professional development coaches to work with new teachers.
The coaches will provide help with teaching strategies, lesson planning and classroom management and run after-school workshops.
SDL hires 50 to 100 new teachers each year. This year, it added 57 teachers to its staff.
• Spending $260,000 to expand a summer school program targeting eighth-graders.
Begun last year, the program is for students who score well on PSSA tests but fail their eighth-grade course work.
The classes, which served 23 students last year, will be able to accommodate up to 100 students, Abrom said.
• Spending $31,362 to establish parent information centers at all 20 district schools.
The centers will include a computer for parent use, along with information on upcoming school events, contact numbers, discipline guidelines and other school-related documents.
Centers already are in place at King, Wickersham and Burrowes elementary schools and Wheatland and Reynolds middle schools.
Most of the centers will be unstaffed.
• Spending $236,386 for laptops, graphing calculators, textbooks and software for programs serving SDL students at Lancaster County Prison, the county Youth Intervention Center and other rehabilitation centers.
The grant also would pay for field trips and a wellness program at the YIC.
Przywara said the district will decide at the end of 2010-11 whether to continue any programs funded by stimulus grants with district funds or other revenue sources.
