by Jon Styf
Nearly $600 million in grants have gone to Tennessee schools for career and technical education from a pair of grant programs since 2019 and a new legislative brief shows the impact of that spending.
Over three years, $22.5 million was granted from the Supporting Postsecondary Access in Rural Communities program while $30 million of federal funding when to the first Innovative School Models grants in 2021 and more than $560 million has been awarded by the ISM program since it was launched.
The goal of the programs is to increase the skilled labor force in the state in high-demand industries and to help K-12 students learn about and get experience in these career paths.
“Accomplishing these goals requires the persistent building of strong connections and partnerships between education systems and local businesses and industries throughout the state,” the brief said. “These efforts may also help bolster the state’s college-going rates, which have declined over the last few years.”
Some of the larger SPARC grants included $223,823 to Grundy County schools for CTE equipment and $100,000 to Hawkins County schools for the same.
The Innovative School grants, meanwhile, were awarded for individual school buildings across the state as many received $1 million per high school and $500,000 per middle school or $200,000 for schools with less than 100 students in grant funding toward CTE programs.
Hamilton County Schools, for example, saw 38 different school buildings received the grants.
“To obtain funding, districts (or individual schools) had to submit grant proposals clearly outlining how they would reimagine time, space, partnerships, and modes of learning and showing commitments from at least one postsecondary partner,” the brief said. “Grant proposals also had to include a sustainability plan to ensure the innovation could last beyond the life of the grant.”
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Jon Styf is an award-winning editor and reporter of The Center Square who has worked in Illinois, Texas, Wisconsin, Florida and Michigan in local newsrooms over the past 20 years, working for Shaw Media, Hearst and several other companies.
