22 school districts in western and south central Kentucky are finalists for the next round of federal education grant funds through the Race to the Top-District competition.
The application from the Green River Regional Educational Cooperative seeks $40-million for participating districts which include Union County, Daviess County and Owensboro Independent in western Kentucky. Not all GRREC member districts chose to join in the grant application like Trigg County Schools which opted to join an application led by the University of Kentucky and Fayette County schools that included 10 other districts including Graves County. Trigg County Superintedent Travis Hamby says his district's decision to work with the University Kentucky for the grant largely hinged on their ongoing work with UK's Next Generation Leadership Academy.
Applications from Bourbon County Schools and the Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative were also selected among the 61 finalists. GRREC’s Grant Writer Johna Rogers expects the government to award between 15 to 25 grants totaling $400-million-dollars by December 31st.