Eight of South Florida’s most struggling schools will get a multi-million dollar boost over the next two years to offer social services like mental health care.
The state Board of Education on Wednesday awarded an extra $2,000 per student to 11 schools statewide, including five in Miami-Dade County and three in Palm Beach County. The awards are for the 2017-18 and 2018-19 school years.
The Miami schools — Lorah Park Elementary School, Toussaint L’Ouverture Elementary School, West Homestead K-8 School, Homestead Middle School and Miami Carol City Senior High School — won a total of nearly $7 million. The district will use the money to hire community liaisons who will work to improve students’ home lives. Also, the schools will provide behavioral health therapy and job help for parents, as well as tutoring and pregnancy prevention for students.
Three schools in Palm Beach County will spend their $7.6 million on counseling for students and parents. They’ll also enhance adult education and offer nutrition guidance. The winning schools there were Gove Elementary School, West Riviera Elementary School and Palm Beach Lakes High School.
The other winning schools were in Bay and Seminole counties. Broward County’s applications for three schools were denied.
Up to 25 schools are eligible, so 14 more could still win. The state Department of Education plans to reopen the application process.
The money was included as a compromise in the controversial new charter school law, House Bill 7069. The measure offers lucrative incentives to attract charters to neighborhoods with D- and F-rated public schools. Superintendents — including Miami-Dade’s Alberto Carvalho and Broward’s Robert Runcie — fought for the extra money to help districts turn those schools around.
Here’s the list of winning schools statewide.
All of the applications can be found here.
