Federal grant review forces Highlands County schools to freeze positions, shift funds

Highlands County School District officials said at a July workshop that a sudden federal programmatic review and lower-than-expected state funding will force the district to freeze vacancies, shift staff funding into the general fund and reduce some program allocations for the coming school year.

"In March, we were notified that we would be receiving our federal dollars...on June 26 we did receive our final FEFP, and those dollars were $150,000 less than what we had expected to see," Superintendent Dr. Longshore said. He told the school board that on June 30 the district also learned Title I allocations would be reduced by $38,000, and on July 1 several federal grants were placed under a programmatic review with no timeline for release.

That programmatic review affects Title I, Title II, Title III and Title IV awards the district had budgeted to staff and programs. Angelica Tenagiero, the district's finance lead, summarized the district's planned use of the contested awards: Title I Part C (migrant education) $685,000 to fund 9.5 positions and related expenses; Title II Part A $653,000 for 6.5 positions and professional development; Title III $83,000 for one ESOL position; and Title IV $368,000…