Summer education programs run by the La Grande School District will be cut
LA GRANDE — The sounds of summer will not be as loud as they have been in past years on the education front in La Grande.
The La Grande School District has learned it will not receive any funding from the State Learning Grant program in 2024. The Oregon Department of Education has announced that 50 school districts, charter schools and education service districts have automatically qualified for a total of $30 million in state Summer Learning Grant funds, Unfortunately the La Grande School District was not one of automatic qualifiers, according to Vice Superintendent Scott Carpenter.
The La Grande School District is on a waiting list for Summer Learning Grant funding and it does not look promising, Carpenter said, adding the school district is ranked 136th of 197 districts and was notified it is 86th on the waiting list.
The complete loss of Summer Learning Grant funding is a big contrast to the past two years when the school district received $326,408 in funding from the state in 2022-23 and $477,844 in 2021-22, Budget Director Michelle Glover said. The funding helped the school district put on a total of 120 three-day camps, 80 in 2022 and 40 in 2023, on subjects, including the arts and science, technology and math, Carpenter said.
This year, though, no summer camps will be conducted by the school district because of the loss of funding. In addition, the school district will not be able to put on its JumpStart and Tiger Academy programs. JumpStart was for grade school and middle school students and Tiger Academy was for high school students about to begin their freshman year.
The state changed the criteria used to determine which school districts, education service districts and charter schools now receive State Learning Grant funding. Now districts with high percentages of “historically underserved" students rank higher on the priority and focal lists for funding, Carpenter said. Historically underserved students include those with Hispanic and Native American heritages, families experiencing poverty and special needs students, including those in special education.
“The La Grande School District has a significant number of students in these focal groups but not as many as compared to other districts," Carpenter said.
Previously, the state provided Summer Learning Grant funding primarily on the basis of the number of students districts served.
La Grande School District Superintendent George Mendoza believes that the way funding will be distributed is not fair. He said it is not right that 50 districts in the state will receive all of the Summer Learning Grant funding and the rest in the state are shutout. Mendoza said all school districts in Oregon have high needs students and deserve to receive funding to help them.
“Whenever you create a system or funding formula in which there are winners and losers it is flawed," he said.
Carpenter said the school district is frustrated by the outcome, but very appreciative of community partners, families, staff and students that have previously supported students in its JumpStart and Tiger Academy programs.
“Students were positively impacted by these programs," he said.
Despite the loss of Summer Learning Grant funds, La Grande will be able to continue offering some summer programs, including its online summer option for high school students who need credits to maintain “on-track” status for graduation. In addition, district funds will be used to fund Extended School Year services for Special Education students who qualify for the program.
“As other grants become available, we will continue to review and expand programming for Summer 2024 and beyond to support La Grande School students and families," Carpenter said.
