Superintendent provided an update saying several state and federal grants that support Marblehead Public Schools were at one point frozen or contingent on a compliance requirement referred to repeatedly in the meeting as “3 a.” The superintendent said the federal freeze affected roughly $70,000 used for items such as mentoring stipends and that those federal funds have since been unfrozen. The superintendent said state grant awards that support METCO transportation are tied to 3 a compliance and described the METCO amount as approximately $500,000, adding the district had managed to file and secure that funding for the coming school year.

The superintendent also identified a Pathways and Innovations grant of about $50,000 that remained awaiting DESE approval and that its timing straddled the 3 a compliance vote, placing that award at risk. Committee members discussed that while the METCO funding was submitted and approved before the second vote on the compliance measure and is available now, the long-term availability of certain grants would depend on how the town meets the 3 a compliance requirement going forward.

The superintendent said the town administrator had not been aware that some grants were tied to 3 a compliance and urged the committee and the public to treat the link between the compliance status and grant eligibility as material to budgeting and program planning. Committee members asked for follow-up and said they would monitor DESE and Town actions to ensure access to grants in future cycles. The superintendent pledged to update the committee if the status of any award changed.

Discussion (possible actions and concerns): Committee members noted the potential programmatic consequences if grant funding tied to compliance is not maintained, particularly for METCO transportation. The superintendent said the district would bring any substantive changes back to the full committee for discussion. No formal policy change was made at the meeting.

Ending: Committee members said they would continue to track state and federal communications on these grants and promised to notify the public if access to funds or programming were threatened.