The Record's Lodi Blog

I filled in for a vacationing colleague to report that Stockton Unified has been denied School Improvement Grant money to reform three of its seven low performing schools, and I couldn’t help but think Lodi Unified officials are probably a little bit relieved that they chose to hold off on implementing massive changes at Lawrence Elementary and Sutherland Elementary.

The board decided to give Lodi Unified’s low achieving schools to right their own ship this year, but it was far from a given. Lawrence teachers begged Trustees for one more year to get test scores up and got it. Sutherland, on the other hand, seemed to be in more of a position to take on changes. Some even argued it could be transformed into a charter.

Had the board decided to reform Sutherland and not Lawrence, it’s likely they’d have done so without getting any federal money to help them do it.

Stockton Unified was denied along with other districts who did not elect to make reforms at every school identified as low achieving. Stockton thought they’d get $12 million or so in order to reform three schools, and then they could address the remaining four at another time.

It’s a shame for Stockton. The SIG grants, after all, was the big carrot the feds and state education officials dangled to tempt districts to make reforms. Now, reforms are being made, and districts like Stockton are making them without what appeared to be promised money.