$32-Million Federal Grant Will Aid State School Reforms

California public schools will receive more than $32 million from the federal government for education reform initiatives through a grant program announced Thursday at the White House by Vice President Al Gore and Gov. Gray Davis.

The grant is part of a federal initiative distributing $145 million nationwide to help individual schools, particularly those in low-income neighborhoods, retool their operations to improve academic performance.

California schools will start getting the money in two stages--$16.3 million now and an additional $16.1 million in July. The funds will pay about a third of the cost for improving low-performing schools in an accountability program that Davis signed into law April 5.

Davis has made school reform a centerpiece of his agenda since he took office in January. The accountability law calls for the state to rank all public schools by academic performance and other measures. The lowest-ranked schools will be eligible for funds to try new approaches and will be threatened with penalties if they repeatedly fail to advance.

The announcement gave Gore an opportunity to polish his education credentials and his political ties to California, a state crucial to the 2000 presidential election.

“This initiative will enable California schools to adopt proven reforms in order to help students meet high academic standards,” Gore said in a statement.