Educators across Southeast Tennessee have their own ideas about how best to spend their cut of Tennessee’s $500 million in federal Race to the Top winnings, and each of the district’s plans now sit in Washington waiting for approval.
Assuming each school system makes progress on the goals it outlined, officials will receive money over the course of four years.
The bulk of the money in each system will be spent on various forms of professional development for teachers and principals, as well as stipends for teachers who do extra work such as summer programs and model teaching.
In addition to looking over all of Tennessee’s Race to the Top plans, officials with the U.S. Department of Education also are examining the statewide budget. State officials hope both will be approved in the next several weeks so districts can start receiving funds right before school starts.
“We’re looking at crunch time,” said Amanda Anderson, spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Education.