Thanks to a $240,000 grant from the Stuart Foundation, Grover Heights Elementary School will now be able to integrate the Teacher and Student Advancement Program (TAP) into its curriculum.
Grover Heights will be the seventh school in the Lucia Mar Unified School District to introduce TAP in the fall.
In February, Lucia Mar became the first school district in California to adopt TAP at some of its campuses after receiving a $7.2 million Teacher Incentive Fund grant from the federal government.
TAP is an educational reform program that aims to improve teacher and student performance through professional development, merit-based pay, and other resources.
Grover Heights was one of the alternate schools that voted with the original six sites. To implement TAP, at least 75 percent of each school’s staff had to vote in favor of the program. According to information from the district, approximately 91 percent of the staff at Grover Heights voted in favor of TAP.
“I’m thrilled we received this very generous grant from the Stuart Foundation. It was obvious in the original TIF grant vote that the teachers at Grover Heights really wanted to go with TAP,” district superintendent Jim Hogeboom said in a statement to the media. “We searched high and low for funding, and we are extremely thankful to the Stuart Foundation.”
The district, however, isn’t immune from financial woes. According to a letter from
Hogeboom to the Board of Education, Lucia Mar could face at least $3.5 million in budget cuts and an additional projected loss of $700,000 due to declining enrollment. As a result, close to 60 district employees could end up losing their jobs.
This article appears in Apr 28 – May 5, 2011.
