Hillsborough County Public Schools Student Services and Federal Programs
Action Item

DATE: Tuesday, August 21, 2007
TO: School Board Members
FROM: MaryEllen Elia, Superintendent

SUBJECT / RECOMMENDATIONS

Approve $110,592 payment to the University of South Florida for Year One Services Associated with Their Partnership with Federal Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) Grant, PR/Award #S374A070100 (Student Services and Federal Programs Division)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

We request approval for payment to the University of South Florida (USF) for year one services associated with their partnership with TIF Grant, PR/Award #S374A070100

The United States Department of Education awarded $15,402,538 to Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS) to implement the TIF grant (Project Performance Optimized With Effective Rewards – POWER), which provides differentiated compensation for teachers and administrators at high poverty schools, in alignment with the state's and district’s Merit Award Program (MAP). The awarded amount for year one of the five-year project is $3,088,827. Faculty and staff from USF College of Education’s Anchin Center, through the Tampa Bay Educational Partnership, a formal partnership between the district and the university, are providing expert leadership training to assist school administrators in creating the specialized skills necessary to become effective leaders at high needs, high poverty schools. Year one of the five-year project began July 1, 2007, and continues through June 30, 2008.

ANNUAL DISTRICT GOAL(S) AND CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTOR(S)

All District goals and critical success factors.

FINANCIAL IMPACT (Budgeted: No)

Funding for this project is provided by the United State Department of Education, PR/Award #S374A070100. HCPS is the grant’s fiscal agent, and project funds reside with the District.

EVALUATION

Under the terms of the grant, an external evaluator, contracted by HCPS, will evaluate the project, providing written status reports to HCPS and annual reports to the USDOE. Copies of the status reports, annual reports, and the final evaluation report will be provided to the district office of Assessment and Accountability. The anticipated date for the year one annual report is September 1, 2008.

SUBMITTED BY: Lynn R. Fell, Grants and Research Operations Officer

Gwendolyn L. Luney
Assistant Superintendent, Student Services & Federal Programs
(813) 272-4879
Gretchen Saunders
Chief Business Officer
(813) 272-4270
5.15
Hillsborough County Public Schools (Florida) * Mtg.#20070821_264 * Section E Item# 5.15