BATTLE CREEK (WKZO AM/FM) The financially strapped Battle Creek Public Schools have just gotten a huge injection of new revenue from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Its a $51-million dollar grant that will be spent over the next five years to make the transformational changes necessary to bolster educational outcomes in the city school district.
The funding will be used to promote early childhood education, create a STEM academy for teaching math and science, start a High School career pathways program and make a number of other foundational changes to bridge racial and economic divides in the district.
Those issues were revealed in a recent a New York University study that found racial and economic disparities between BCPS and other area school districts.
Kellogg Foundation President and CEO La June Montgomery Tabron says “I’m excited, right, about the possibilities and the opportunity to actually implement all of the strategies we know are needed to improve outcomes for kids,”
BCPS Superintendent Kim Carter said. “It’s also important to note that this is not an operational change. We will still have to balance our budget. This is supplemental so it actually layers on support for the revenue we’re receiving in a way that puts in additional supports and resources for kids.”
