An Indiana Department of Education grant that received public criticism last year has been restructured in order to be more equitable. During their meeting Monday evening, the Bremen School Board members agreed on a performance-based method of distribution to properly utilize the money received through the Teacher Appreciation Grant.
Superintendent Dr. Jim White addressed specific issues with the way the grant, formerly titled the Teacher Performance Grant, was allotted in the past,
“Last year, there was a little bit of uproar from the educational community when these teacher performance grants were awarded, some schools received $2800 or so per teacher and other schools received almost nothing.”
With the grant restructured and renamed, it is now up to the board to annually adopt how they will distribute the grant money among Bremen’s teachers. Teachers who receive a “highly effective” evaluation will make 25 percent more than a teacher who is rated “effective”. Teachers who receive evaluations of “needs improvement” or below will not receive any money from the grant.
