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Title II-A Teacher & Principal Training & Recruiting Funds

State use of funds for the Discretionary funds, section 2113

Funding for 2015-16 $2,547,420

Overall Purpose:

The purpose of this part is to provide grants to State educational agencies, local educational agencies, State agencies for higher education, and eligible partnerships in order to —

  1. increase student academic achievement through strategies such as improving teacher and principal quality and increasing the number of highly qualified teachers in the classroom and highly qualified principals and assistant principals in schools; and
  2. hold local educational agencies and schools accountable for improvements in student academic achievement.

Subgrants to LEAs, section 2121-2123

Funding for 2015-16 $96,849,676 Flow-Through to Districts (LEAs)

Overall Purpose:

The purpose of this part is to provide grants to State educational agencies, local educational agencies, State agencies for higher education, and eligible partnerships in order to —
  1. increase student academic achievement through strategies such as improving teacher and principal quality and increasing the number of highly qualified teachers in the classroom and highly qualified principals and assistant principals in schools; and
  2. hold local educational agencies and schools accountable for improvements in student academic achievement.

Flow-Through to Districts/LEAs Activities:

  • Developing and implementing mechanisms to assist schools in effectively recruiting and retaining highly qualified teachers, including specialists in core academic subjects, principals, and pupil services personnel
  • Developing and implementing initiatives to assist in recruiting highly qualified teachers (particularly initiatives that have proven effective in retaining highly qualified teachers), and hiring highly qualified teachers, who will be assigned teaching positions within their fields (including recruiting and hiring highly qualified teachers to reduce class size, particularly in the early grades)
  • Providing professional development activities
  • Developing and implementing initiatives to promote retention of highly qualified teachers and principals, particularly within elementary schools and secondary schools with a high percentage of low-achieving students
  • Carrying out programs and activities that are designed to improve the quality of the teacher force
  • Carrying out professional development activities designed to improve the quality of principals and superintendents, including the development and support of academies to help talented aspiring or current principals and superintendents become outstanding managers and educational leaders.
  • Hiring highly qualified teachers, including teachers who become highly qualified through State and local alternative routes to certification, and special education teachers, in order to reduce class size, particularly in the early grades.
  • Carrying out teacher advancement initiatives that promote professional growth and emphasize multiple career paths (such as paths to becoming a career teacher, mentor teacher, or exemplary teacher) and pay differentiation.
  • Carrying out programs and activities related to exemplary teachers.

Subgrants to Eligible Partnerships, section 2131-2134

Funding for 2015-16 $2,547,420

Overall Purpose:

The purpose of this part is to provide grants to State educational agencies, local educational agencies, State agencies for higher education, and eligible partnerships in order to —
  1. increase student academic achievement through strategies such as improving teacher and principal quality and increasing the number of highly qualified teachers in the classroom and highly qualified principals and assistant principals in schools; and
  2. hold local educational agencies and schools accountable for improvements in student academic achievement.

Eligible Partnerships (Competitive):

The term eligible partnership means an entity that shall include a private or state institution of higher education and the division of the institution that prepares teachers and principals; a school of arts and sciences; and a high-need local educational agency; and may include another local educational agency, a public charter school, an elementary school or secondary school, an educational service agency, a nonprofit educational organization, another institution of higher education, a school of arts and sciences within such an institution, the division of such an institution that prepares teachers and principals, a nonprofit cultural organization, an entity carrying out a pre-kindergarten program, a teacher organization, a principal organization, or a business.
 

The term low-performing school means an elementary school or secondary school that is identified under section 1116, i.e., in school improvement.

Subgrants must be equitably distributed by geographic area within a state; or eligible partnerships in all geographic areas within the state are served through the subgrants.

Special Rule:

No single participant in an eligible partnership may use more than 50 percent of the funds made available to the partnership under this section.

Applications:

An eligible partnership shall submit an application to the state agency at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the agency may require.

Helpful Links:

Lynn Kemper, Educational Consultant
Bureau of Educator Recruitment, Development & Retention
Florida Department of Education
325 West Gaines Street, Room 124
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0400
Phone: 850-245-7804
Fax: 850-245-0543