Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — The Steamboat Springs Education Fund Board should move one step closer Wednesday night to approving grants for the 2012-13 school year. The group is expected to vet nine additional grant applications from school districts in Routt County during its meeting Wednesday.

One of the items on the agenda for Wednesday is a first reading of the Steamboat Springs School District’s largest grant request, which would fund 11 full-time teachers and support technology improvements, among other things. The board also will weigh applications from the Hayden and South Routt school districts for their summer intensive programs.

Wednesday will be the first time the Fund Board weighs in on Steamboat’s $986,000 “effective classrooms” grant that previously was held back because of its significant cost and lack of accountability measures. The school district pared down the grant from its original price tag of $2.6 million and moved some of its line items to separate applications, a move that allowed the application to earn the endorsement of the Fund Board’s grant vetting commission last month.

“I think the changes made everyone more comfortable with its size and scope,” Fund Board President Kristi Brown said Tuesday.

The Fund Board now is considering $2.75 million worth of total grant requests. It projects it will dole out about $2.5 million next school year. The grant commission on April 18 will decide where to cut $250,000 from the applications.

“The commission has been doing a great job working through the requests with each of the applicants, and we’re in a good place,” Brown said. “It’s not that $250,000 is going to be a painless cut, but it’s a manageable number.”

The Fund Board is expected to meet again May 2 to start giving final approval to grant requests.

Steamboat Springs Education Fund Board applications

■ Projected award total for 2012-13: $2.5 million

■ Total requests for 2012-13: $2.75 million

Requests by percentages

■ Steamboat Springs School District requests: $2,073,613 (75%)

■ Soroco School District requests: $199,500 (7%)

■ Hayden School District requests: $184,464 (7%)

■ Community group requests: $87,000 (3%)

■ North Routt Community Charter School requests: $35,000 (1%)

■ Administrative requests: $30,000 (1%)

■ Collaborative requests: $140,000 (6%)

Steamboat Springs School District

Effective classroom grant ($986,000)

■ Eleven full-time teachers: $624,000

■ English Language Learners program: $160,000

■ Gifted and talented program: $132,000

■ Additional counselor: $70,000

Technology ($811,613)

■ Technology staff: $182,400

■ Upgrade and replace 200 Apple computers: $350,000

■ Computer software renewals: $124,213

■ Network improvements: $155,000

Elementary school literacy coaches ($118,000)

Middle school Spanish program ($118,000)

Staff development ($40,000)

South Routt School District

Tech tower ($40,000)

■ Project would connect computer networks of Steamboat and South Routt and increase bandwidth

Summer intensive program ($7,500)

Technology hardware and infrastructure upgrades ($152,000)

Hayden School District

Summer intensive program ($7,500)

Technology staff ($44,586)

Elementary school technology infrastructure upgrades ($47,521)

Elementary school computer upgrades ($16,992)

■ Would replace 24 computers

Auditorium renovations and upgrades ($25,000)

■ Would replace curtains and seats and improve acoustics

Middle school intervention staff ($19,662)

Smart Boards ($10,880)

PowerSchool and server update ($5,295)

North Routt Community Charter School

Expeditionary learning program ($35,000)

Community groups

Yampatika Environmental Literacy program ($17,000)

Rocky Mountain Youth Corps Science School ($20,000)

Partners in Routt County school-based mentors ($37,500)

Steamboat Springs Art Council ($11,500)

■ Summer arts camp: $7,500

■ Middle school production: $4,000

New Frontiers Girls to Women program ($1,000)

To reach Scott Franz, call 970-871-4210 or email scottfranz@SteamboatToday.com