Two Marysville schools will hear soon about help

MARYSVILLE — Two Marysville schools deemed in need of improvement by the federal government because of low test scores should find out by Friday if they will get extra money to bolster instruction.

Tulalip Elementary and Totem Middle School are among 41 schools across Washington state vying for $17 million next year.

Some schools will be disappointed.

“They are asking for $49 million, and we will only be able to fund $17 million,” said Nathan Olson, a spokesman for the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. “That’s quite a discrepancy.”

The state superintendent’s office plans to tell qualifying schools later this week how much money they will get and what they are expected to accomplish next year.

The Marysville School District has applied for more than $2 million this year — $1.2 million for Totem and about $720,000 for Tulalip. It’s also seeking $300,000 for training, complying with grant requirements and hiring a coordinator to oversee the reform work at both schools.

“We honestly built a budget around what we believe — and read in the research — is needed to make a significant difference at both schools,” said Gail Miller, the district’s assistant superintendent.

The district will make its final pitch in Tacoma on Tuesday during an interview with state education staff.

To qualify for the money, the Marysville School Board voted to adopt a federal model for changing schools that landed on the federal list for most needing improvement.

The U.S. Department of Education will award states a total of $3.5 billion in school improvement grants to turn around their lowest-performing schools. That includes $51 million over three years to dozens of schools in Washington state.

Each state comes up with a list of schools that qualify based on test scores. Although Marysville officials dispute the ranking, Totem is on the state’s list of schools scoring in the bottom 5 percent in WASL math and reading exams when averaged over the past three years.

The federal government gave local school districts four models to follow to turn low-performing schools around. The school board picked what is called a “transformation model.” The rules required the district to replace long-time Totem principal Judy Albertson, who will be moved to another position within the district. Tulalip principal Chris Sampley was allowed to remain because she was new at the school this year.

The district also must take steps to increase teacher and school leader effectiveness, change instructional methods and add learning time. Marysville plans to increase the school day by at least 30 minutes. Other expectations call for creating more community-oriented schools and adding more flexibility to how the school operates.

The board rejected other federal options that included closing the schools and replacing at least half the teaching staff.

The school board could have ignored the federal call for change at Totem but it would have lost a chance at the federal money and most likely would have had to adopt one of the improvement strategies sooner or later and without the additional funds. The Legislature is considering a bill that includes a provision requiring schools in the bottom 5 percent to adopt one of the federal options.

Six schools across the state chose not to apply for the federal money.

Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com.

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