SBCSS News and Press Releases

Congress Earmarks $820,000 for County Schools' Programs

2004-12-09

SAN BERNARDINO -- Congress has approved $820,000 in funding for three San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools' programs for fiscal year 2005. Representatives Joe Baca (D-Rialto) and Jerry Lewis (R-Redlands) led the way for the funding, which is part of the omnibus appropriations act. The "earmark" or funding is expected to be approved shortly by President George W. Bush. The funding will provide $500,000 to a five-county collaborative called the PROMISE Initiative to increase English Learner achievement and another $320,000 for the county's Virtual Hi-Tech High School and Alliance for Education programs. "We are thrilled that our local representatives have led the charge for county students to legislate this vital funding for these innovative and dynamic programs," County Superintendent Herbert Fischer said. The Promise Initiative, in which San Bernardino County's Office of Education works in conjunction with those of Riverside, Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties, is focused on increasing English Learner achievement, ensuring increased access to highly qualified teachers and conducting "gold-standard" research to measure impact of the initiative. California has approximately one-third of the English Learners student population of the United States, and the five-county area comprised in the PROMISE Initiative is home to 65 percent of the state's English Learner student population. Virtual Hi-Tech High and the Alliance for Education programs provide real world learning-based instruction to enhance student achievement. VHTH is a collaborative among three county districts -- Redlands, Rialto and San Bernardino -- to build technology enhanced real-world problem based learning. The Alliance is a partnership with business, labor, community, government and education to align common goals to produce an educated and skilled workforce.