The Columbia School District received more than $1.5 million in grants and donations last year, and officials hope to be eligible and qualify for even more this year.
During a recent school board meeting, Lisa White, director of federal programs, spoke about the grants and what they mean to the district.
For the 2017-18 school year, Columbia received $1,571,268, of which $581,711 came from competitive grants, $984,557 in formula grants and $5,000 in donations.
“The Lord has blessed us with a lot of funds, and we’ve got the right people in place to use these funds wisely,” she said. “The title funds are federal funds and the majority are formula grants.
“These funds totaled $1,234,557, with one of the grants being a $250,000 competitive 21st Century grant. The formula grants mean that no matter what, we’re going to get something out of the money. We have to complete an application and the application is approved by the state Department of Education. The competitive grant is a three-year grant and if all goes well, we should get it for 2018-19.”
Though the majority of the money comes from federal title money, various other grants totaled more than $250,000. Each school in the district for example received a Kinder Morgan Grant for between $2,500 and $5,000. Kinder Morgan is the company that owns one of the major pipelines running through Marion County and its foundation provides money for schools. Jefferson Middle School and Columbia High School each received $2,000 grants from Dollar General on competitive grants. A Serve All grant, for example, is $85,000 and pays the salaries of school nurses.
One aspect that White is pleased with is that teachers have been using Donors Choose to receive grants for individual projects. Last year, nine teachers were awarded more than $6,500 in Donors Choose awards for a variety of projects and classroom supplies.
A $100,000 grant also helped pave the way for the district’s new pre-K program. Other grants come from companies like All State, Walmart and Mississippi Power. Exxon donated $5,000 in the names of three of its employees involved in the school system, Ed and Matt Hough and Gerald Creel.
White said she and many other staff members were working to apply for more grants and keep other applications current.
“We’re always looking for new funding sources,” she said. “We like competitive grants, and we like to win.”
