PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. – Getting good grades is always a great thing.
When your kid gets an "A" maybe you celebrate with a special dinner or pat on the back.
When a Florida school gets an "A" on the state's grading formula, they are eligible for money and lots of it.
This year, the Florida Department of Education will be giving schools in Broward and Miami-Dade Counties about $35 million. The breakdown is just over $15 million for Broward and $19.6 million for Miami-Dade.
For a list of those schools, click here.
According to the Florida Department of Education's website the money each school receives is based on enrollment data, "each recognized school will receive up to $100 per full-time equivalent (FTE) student based on the October 2011-12 enrollment count."
The money can be used, "for nonrecurring bonuses to the faculty and staff, nonrecurring expenditures for educational equipment or materials, or for temporary personnel to assist the school in maintaining or improving student performance (Section 1008.36(5), F.S.). The school's staff and SAC must decide to spend these funds on one or any combination of these three purposes. If the school's staff and SAC decide to give bonuses, they determine who is to receive them and how much each person will receive."
The Florid legislature created this School Recognition Program in 1997 to acknowledge and reward schools, "that sustain high performance by receiving a school grade of "A;" or Schools that demonstrate exemplary improvement due to innovation and effort by improving at least one letter grade; or Schools that improve more than one letter grade and sustain the improvement the following school year."
Governor Rick Scott is expected to present Broward County with a recognition check at Piper High School in Sunrise later this morning.
It is a feather in the cap for a school district most notable of late for a school bus staffing and route fiasco which resulted in angry parents and stranded students left without a ride to class in the first few weeks of school.