Great Things are Happening at Taft ISD… The Taft Independent School District has received a Jobs and Education for Texans (JET) Grant in the amount of $136, 920.00 from the Texas Workforce Commission. This Grant is for the Implementation of an Industrial Instrumentation Program on the campus of Taft High School, in partnership with Del Mar College. view article

Pursuing a career in the technical field has just gotten a lot easier for some area high school students. That’s because new grant money just awarded to a local school district. Robstown Early College High School just received a JET (jobs and education for Texas) grant worth $188,328 from the Texas Workforce Commission. That money will be used to purchase and install new equipment, which will provide students hands-on training to obtain a certification and one day land a job in the local workforce as instrumentation technicians after they graduate. view article

With summer here, school is probably the last thing on anyone's minds - except for the Apple Springs ISD Booster Club. The club made the decision to take care of every student's school supply needs. "The teachers gave school supplies lists and how many students they have in each class and we just decided we were going to try and just help the parents out," said Lolette Griggs, Apple Springs ISD Booster Club President. view article

The University of Texas at El Paso will partner with the El Paso Independent School District (EPISD) to foster the next generation of highly skilled STEM teachers through a five-year, $1.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).  UTEP will receive support from the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program, an NSF effort that helps address the critical need for K-12 teachers of science, technology, engineering and mathematics by encouraging talented students and professionals to pursue teaching careers in elementary and secondary schools. The effort is being led by Amy Wagler, Ph.D., associate chair in the Department of Mathematical Sciences, who is the grant's principal investigator.  view article

The Eanes Education Foundation, a nonprofit that raises funds for Eanes ISD, has collected more than $2.55 million to fund 51 teacher positions for the 2019-20 school year and support professional development throughout the district. The check was presented June 5 at the EEF End of Year Party held at Austin Country Club. A press release put out by EEF states key positions on each of the nine district campuses funded by the grant include librarians, counselors, school nurses, AP and pre-AP teachers and electives teachers—positions officials said will help keep class sizes as low as possible. view article

Hallsville ISD Education Foundation is teeing up for its 17th annual "Fore the Kids" golf tournament which benefits its grants to teachers and dual credit scholarship programs. The 18-hole, four person per team scramble is set for June 17 with registration beginning at 7:30 a.m. and a shotgun start for the tournament at 8:30 a.m. at Pinecrest Country Club in Longview. view article

Bright green lily pads dotted a hallway of Torres Elementary School, with wide-eyed frogs following the path to another pad or piece of wood. Jada Johnson took a deep breath before hopping from one pad to the next, paying special attention to the instructions laid out between painted trees and logs. “It gives you energy, and the bananas with letters can help kids learn the alphabet,” Johnson, 9, said. “This is really great for learning.” view article

The Texas Workforce Commission gave Teague schools a grant worth more than $150,000 on Tuesday morning. view article

High school seniors who graduated this year from Comal Independent School District collectively were offered scholarships totaling an amazing $33.97 million. Of those 1,492 graduates who received scholarship money, 575 graduates were from Canyon High, 204 graduates from Canyon Lake High, 76 graduates from Early Memorial College High and 637 graduates from Smithson Valley High. The breakdown of the scholarships among the high schools includes $15.62 million at CHS, $3.45 million at CLHS, $1.9 million at MECHS and $13 million at SVHS. While the $33.97 million includes local, state, private and national scholarships, some are noteworthy, and a few are unconventional.  view article

The Royse City Independent School District last week celebrated a grant that allowed for a rock climbing wall to be built at Fort Elementary School. The Royse City ISD Education Foundation dedicated the grant to the memory of Rachel Forbus, who was a committed volunteer in the district for many years. According to a district press release, Forbus graduated from Royse City High School in 1979, and in addition to athletics, participated in many of the school’s clubs and extracurriculars. view article

For the second year in a row, Seguin ISD’s Matador Special Services Department received a grant from the Texas Education Agency.  Last year the department received $779,050 to develop the Whole Child Learning Center at Ball Early Childhood Center. With the success the program has had, the TEA extended the grant, awarding $1 million to the department, SISD director of special education Halcy Dean said. view article

San Augustine and Jasper Independent School Districts have both received grants for their proposals to connect “opportunity youth” with resources to set them up for success in the future. Opportunity youth are defined as 16 to 24-year-olds who are technically not in school; they’re either home-schooled, dropped out, or they’ve graduated high school but chose not to pursue post-secondary education. view article

The Mineola ISD school board Monday night unanimously approved accepting Texas Education Agency (TEA) grants for $636,332 and $16,580 to benefit the district’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) program, particularly HVAC and industrial maintenance. The action came after a lengthy discussion about Mineola’s role in hosting a CTE hub involving four nearby school districts: Alba-Golden, Yantis, Lindale and Grand Saline. School trustees raised concerns and posed numerous questions to Mark Parkerson, the district’s director for special programming, as well as Superintendent Kim Tunnell. view article

The Huntsville Education Foundation hosted its annual recipients’ reception last week, proudly awarding 28 grants totaling nearly $27,000 to Huntsville ISD educators to finance innovative, enriching and challenging student lessons and activities in the upcoming school year. Founded in 1994, the Education Foundation encourages educators to apply in March of each year to fund projects not normally budgeted by their campuses. It is because of the generosity of the Huntsville community that these juried grants are made possible and has resulted in the distribution of approximately $500.000. view article

Sixth and seventh graders at the South San Independent School District are wrapping up the first year of a new program that will give them experiences that could help them prepare for life after graduation. Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs, or GEAR UP, is a program funded through the U.S. Department of Education and awarded to the University of Texas at Austin. view article

SAFE 2 SAVE and State Farm announced the winning high schools of the Fort Bend ISD competition, which promoted undistracted safe driving. State Farm awarded over $7,000 to the participating high schools which competed to earn the most points for not touching their phones while driving. SAFE 2 SAVE is a free mobile app that rewards users points for undistracted driving that can be redeemed at local businesses for free items and discounts. view article

H-E-B awarded the Roma Independent School District a $50,000 cash prize in a statewide initiative toward educators on Sunday. The H-E-B Excellence in Education Awards presented over $400,000 in cash and grants to individuals and collective entities. Two principals, six teachers, two school districts, a public school board and an early childhood organization were among these, according to the news release. The program has given over $10 million to education since 2002. A panel made of school administrators, former winners and community leaders acted as judges for finalists. view article

Christina Ramos spends most of her working time driving around Conroe ISD, visiting the identified homeless and unaccompanied youth students and their families to see how she can help connect them with resources to meet their needs and help the kids be more successful in school. “Homeless students, more than any other population, have the highest risk of dropping out. There’s a lot of disruption in their lives, and not knowing where they’re going to sleep at night is very stressful for them,” Ramos said. view article

The Alvin ISD Education Foundation Winners Wagon surprised 153 teachers on 26 different campuses on April 25 to award innovative teaching grants, according to a media release from the foundation. The foundation awarded $83,148.95 in grants to teachers and staff across the district, the media release stated. view article

The Texas Workforce Commission presented Terrell ISD with a Jobs and Education for Texans (JET) grant in the amount of $287,304 on Monday, April 29 during the Career and Technical Education (CTE) Showcase at Terrell High School. The grant, which was presented by Texas Workforce Commissioner Robert D. Thomas, will help the District purchase and install equipment to provide students with training for careers in engineering and manufacturing. The Terrell ISD Excellence Foundation, in partnership with the Terrell Economic Development Corporation, contributed an additional $28,876 to the CTE programs. view article

Students at Gregory-Portland High School will receive new equipment for their school that will help them with their futures. Leaders from Del Mar College, the Gregory-Portland Independent School District, and Voestalpine Texas donated $50,000 for their process technology program. According to the organization, they donated the money for the equipment to celebrate their students because they know that they're valuable to the community and will help them keep moving forward.  view article

The Henderson ISD Education Foundation awarded $25,000 in grants to teachers across Henderson ISD campuses Thursday. Teachers submitted a grant application requesting funding for a creative classroom project. This year, 33 applications were received and 26 were fully funded. The HISD Education Foundation has been awarding teacher grants for 20 years and to-date has provided more than $575,000 to teachers at HISD.  view article

Springlake-Earth ISD received a surprise donation in the amount of $50,000 from Dollar General as the company celebrated their new store opening in the town. Several students and teachers wrote letters to Dollar General, requesting for their consideration to make Earth, TX their newest location for a Dollar General store. Today, many of those letters were read aloud at a school-wide ceremony hosted by Dollar General, in the auditorium of the Springlake-Earth school.  view article

Students at Gregory-Portland High School will receive new equipment for their school that will help them with their futures. view article

Comcast NBCUniversal announced that it has awarded approximately $5,000 in scholarships for the 2019-2020 school year to North Texas students as part of its annual Leaders and Achievers® Scholarship Program. Students are selected for their outstanding community service, academic performance, and leadership skills. The award, funded by the Comcast NBCUniversal Foundation, is a one-time, $2,500 scholarship to be used toward undergraduate education-related expenses. Since 2001, more than $33 million has been awarded to nearly 30,000 high school seniors across the country as part of the Leaders and Achievers program. view article

Los Fresnos CISD Career and Technical Education received a $268,408 Jobs and Education (JET) grant for equipment purchases to provide students with training for careers in welding. The Jobs and Education for Texans grant allocates $10 million each biennium to defray start-up costs associated with the development of career and technical education programs to public community and technical colleges, and independent school districts. Equipment funded through JET grants must be used to train for jobs in high-demand occupations. view article

Three charter school organizations with deep Texas roots received about $218 million in federal grants, a portion of which will help them add campuses in the Houston area.  IDEA Public Schools, the KIPP charter school network and Responsive Education Solutions, which combine to educate nearly 82,000 children in Texas, were awarded five-year grants through the U.S. Department of Education’s Charter Schools Program, one of the largest federal supports for charter expansion. The grants to IDEA Public Schools, based in the Rio Grande Valley, and the national KIPP Foundation, which partners with its Texas-based affiliate, are the two largest awards in the program’s history. view article

The Dallas Stars Foundation announced Thursday that it has pledged $2 million over the next five years to St. Philip's School and Community Center in South Dallas in connection with the team being chosen to host the league's 2020 Winter Classic.  "St. Philip's and its people are doing great things in South Dallas," said Marty Turco, president and chair of the Dallas Stars Foundation. "It's just something we know is right." The team made the announcement at the annual "Fight Night" event benefiting The Real Estate Council Foundation, which was held at the Hilton Anatole. view article

Thirteen teachers at La Vega Independent School District were in for quite the surprise on Tuesday, as nearly $50,000 in grants were presented to them to improve the district. The sounds of lockers slamming and banter from students were replaced by a band and people who were elated about the grants. view article

A trio of grants totaling more than $300,000 aims to sharpen skills training for workers in Cameron County. The Texas Workforce Commission this past week awarded grants of $49,900 for High Demand Job Training to Workforce Solutions Cameron in collaboration with Harlingen Economic Development Corp., a $155,721 Skills Development Fund grant to Texas State Technical College-Harlingen in partnership with a manufacturing consortium and a $116,412 Jobs and Education for Texans (JET) grant to Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District. All of the funds will go to benefit workers in the Workforce Solutions area of Cameron County.

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Students at a Fort Worth elementary school, students got the surprise of their lives Monday afternoon when they learned the Ellen DeGeneres Show is giving them a big donation. Como Elementary will receive $50,000 to go toward new technology and food. The school provides two free meals a day and sends food home over the weekends, because many students don't have enough to eat. view article

Red Oak ISD is a statewide semi-finalist for the 2019 HEB Excellence in Education Award. This award was established in 2002 and is designed to honor outstanding public schools and to thank them for their dedication and commitment. Through this program, HEB seeks to pay tribute to educators who go the extra mile every day to serve students and their communities and who inspire others to do the same. view article

Education Service Center (ESC) Region 12 Technology Foundation recently awarded six school districts with nearly $53,000 in grant funds to support educational technology programs. Hillsboro Elementary School received $8,677 to add interactive technology to its newly adopted social and emotional learning curriculum. The technology will help the district support academic proficiency through engaging, whole-group, interactive digital-learning and restorative practices. The La Vega Primary campus received $7,150 to purchase technology that will help educators integrate engaging lessons and technology into the language arts curriculum for pre-K 3 through kindergarten students. view article

A grant will give hundreds of pre-k students in Dallas a better learning environment, with $45,000 being split between two schools. While the Texas state legislature considers the idea of funding full day pre-K schools in Texas, the Arlington Park Early Learning Center in Dallas is an example of what is happening in Dallas ISD thanks to private-public partnerships. view article

This isn’t a story about goat yoga or dog yoga or even beer yoga. This is a story about plain old yoga. But what makes this class different — and less gimmicky — is that it’s being taught in a Dallas ISD after-school program. When Ebony Smith started doing yoga, there were no studios in her neighborhood, so she started Yoga N Da Hood. view article