Mike Richie, District Administrator
Spirit Article, April 2023
Funding for school districts can be a challenge and we must rely on the state and legislators to provide adequate funding. Some years are better than others. However, recently there has been a severe decline in school funding provided by the state. As a district, how do we overcome this and what can we do to attempt to increase our revenues?
In the Tomorrow River School District, we have established three ways to increase revenue sources. The District has passed operational referendums to increase school funding, the school district has also raised more than $2.2 million in private contributions toward the Falcon Pride Project athletic complex renovation, and the district has been successful in writing grants.
For the past five school years, our school counselors have been awarded DPI School Based Mental Health grants to assist our students and families dealing with mental health issues and concerns. These grants have totaled more than $362,000, and we continue to explore grant opportunities for our mental health needs for our students and families. Our counseling department deserves commendation for pursuing this important funding.
In February 2023, the district, in collaboration with the Boys and Girls Club of Stevens Point, submitted an ESSER 3 Summer School Program Grant. The purpose of this competitive grant is to address the academic, social, emotional and mental health needs of students most severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic through high quality and evidence-based programs. The district is seeking $575,000 in funding through this channel.
Items covered in this grant would include many summer school programming options, professional development training for staff, and summer programming through the Boys and Girls Club for our students. Some of the goals we will be working toward will include: literacy growth, reading proficiency, math growth and the development of enrichment activities that contribute to the development of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and positive social emotional skills in students through summer school course offerings.
If we are lucky enough to be awarded this grant, we will also be updating the scope and sequence of professional development time for teachers in the area of English Language Arts, reading and writing. This will be in conjunction with the adoption of our new curriculum. This grant will also enable us to focus on internal leadership training for staff to support our strategic plan with the desired goal/outcome of being able to retain high quality staff.
We believe that by offering effective summer learning programming and options in the district, it will allow students that are the most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic to catch up on unfinished learning while maintaining social connectedness to promote emotional well-being.
Fingers crossed that we will earn a successful grant award of $575,000!