By Kathryn Schiliro
Managing Editor

The Morgan County Charter School System is among 61 systems out of about 900 districts and systems nationwide to be named a finalist for a federal Race to the Top District grant.
School system administration submitted the grant, requesting $9.6 million, to the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) last month. The application focuses on personalization of education through “innovative technology.”
“We are very pleased that the plan put forth in our application, for personalized learning, has been recognized. If granted this funding, we will be able to move forth quicker than anticipated in creating new levels of learning opportunities for all Morgan County students,” Grant Coordinator Dr. Wayne Myers said, through e-mail correspondence with the Citizen Tuesday. Myers gives credit to the teachers and administrators at all levels that helped to compose all of the pieces of the grant.
“We are thrilled to be a finalist for the federal Race to the Top District grant!  The entire process  involved in the  application for this national grant taught us so much and led us to dig deeper than ever before as we analyzed  massive amounts of our data to target innovative ways to personalize instruction," Assistant Superintendent Sarah Burbach said, via e-mail Tuesday.
Born as a state-level competition, the DOE decided to offer district-level Race to the Top grants this year. Of the $550 million set aside for Race to the Top, the DOE expects to spend about $383 million in this district-level competition.
The Fulton County Board of Education, Haralson County School System and Rockdale County Public Schools were also selected as finalists for Georgia.
Grant winners will be named by the end of December.

Printed in the November 29, 2012 edition.