You asked several questions about priority school districts and districts with priority schools. The questions and answers are given individually below.

State law designates the following towns as priority school districts:

Districts that no longer meet these criteria are considered former priority districts and receive phase-out funding for the first year after they lose their status. Newly designated districts receive phase-in grants for the first year. Table 1 shows the priority districts for the FY 06-07 biennium.

Table 1: Priority School Districts, FY 06

By law, a priority school is a school in a non-priority district at which 40% or more of the school lunches served are served to children with family incomes low enough to be eligible for free or reduced-price school lunches under the federal school lunch program. Table 2 shows the 30 districts with priority schools.

Table 2: Districts With Priority Schools, FY 05

The State Department of Education designates the districts based on the statutory statistical criteria and calculations.

Priority school districts are entitled to the following education grants distributed according to formulas.

● Dropout prevention programs

● Alternative and transitional programs for students having trouble in regular educational programs

● Academic enrichment, tutorial, or recreational programs in schools both after school and during the summer

● Extended-day kindergarten programs

● Early reading intervention programs, including summer and after-school programs

● Enhancing use of technology to support instruction or improve parent-teacher communication

● Strengthening parent and other community involvement in schools, school district programs, activities, and education policies

● Obtaining accreditation for elementary and middle schools from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.

Early Reading Success Grants. These grants must be used for:

● Full-day kindergarten programs

● Reducing class sizes in grades K-3 to no more than 18 students

● Early reading intervention programs, including summer and after-school programs

Summer School Program Grants. These grants must be used to fund remedial instruction for students who fail to meet the remedial standard on the 4^th and 6^th grade Connecticut mastery tests. Programs can include after-school, weekend, and vacation programs.

School Readiness Program. This program provides grants to:

1. purchase spaces in accredited or approved programs for young children to provide access to high-quality school readiness programs;

2. increase the number of full-day, full-year spaces to meet family needs; and

3. share costs for school readiness and child-care programs among the state and its various agencies, communities, and families.

By law, former priority school districts continue to receive school readiness grants after they cease to qualify as priority districts.

Districts with priority schools are eligible to compete for school readiness grants, and those with priority elementary schools can apply for competitive early reading success grants of up to $100,000 per district. In each case, the grants must be used for the priority school or for children living in the attendance area for the priority school.

No. But Torrington is a district with priority schools. As such, in FY 05, it received a school readiness competitive grant of $178,504 and an early reading success grant of $100,000.

JL:ts