Ohio to get $20.2M to help low-performing schools

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. education secretary says Ohio will receive $20.2 million to continue its efforts to help persistently lowest-performing schools raise their students’ achievement.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in a release Monday the funding will come through the Department of Education’s School Improvement Grants program.

The grants are awarded to state educational agencies. Those agencies then make sub-grants to the local educational agencies that demonstrate the greatest need for the money and the strongest commitment to using it to substantially raise student achievement in their lowest-performing schools.

The federal grants program also will provide funds to 10 other states.

Federal officials say the program has invested up to $6 million per school over three years at more than 1,300 of the country’s lowest-performing schools.