K–12 | Daily Report

Flickr photo by dospaz

Roughly 164 of the 188 schools on the state's persistently low-performing list have pledged to implement reform in exchange for a cut of a $416 million grant, according to data released this week by the California Department of Education.

The Oakland and San Diego Unified school districts were among those school districts who flooded the state office last week with applications indicating their willingness to participate in the School Improvement Program. Both Oakland and San Diego initially refused to vie for the funds over concerns about the mandated improvement measures. But we wondered if they might have a change of heart after the state announced its success in securing the $415,844,376 from the U.S. Department of Education.

And apparently they, along with 56 school districts getting whacked by the ongoing budget crisis, couldn't pass up the shot-in-the-arm the $50,000 to $2 million in federal dollars would bring.

If approved by the board, Willie L. Brown Jr. Elementary in San Francisco and Explore Middle School in Oakland would be shut down, according to the proposal currently on state officials' desks. Eight other schools, including seven in Los Angeles Unified are slated to be turned over to charter school organizations.

Seventy-two schools could be replacing their principals and adopting a longer day, while 32 other campuses would fire the principal and replace most, if not all, of the the teachers.

The State Board of Education will decide Aug. 2 which schools will get money and how much. The full list of schools is included below: