Yesterday, the United States Department of Education unveiled a $14 million dollar grant to Special Education Parent Training and Information Centers to 28 states and two U.S. territories. But Delaware, with all the sucking up Governor Markell and the Delaware DOE due to Arne Duncan, did not get one single penny from this grant.
I don’t feel too bad though, because the last event the Parent Information Center of Delaware had was on “standards-based” IEPs. You know, Common Core IEPs. Of course the DOE will say that’s not what it’s about, but they also say high-stakes testing is good for kids, so there’s that!
I’m sure I’ll get a response consisting of “But we are already funded by the US DOE.” I’m sure you are, but guess what, so are all those other states. And you didn’t get a slice of the $14 million pie! What does that say about Delaware special education when the Virgin Islands got over $100,000 and we didn’t get jack? (cause we have our own special kind of jack)
The Exceptional Infinite 
As a point of clarification for your readers. Delaware’s Parent Information Center was not eligible to compete for the grant you reference. We were successful in renewing our Federal funding, which was awarded last year.
Keith Morton
Executive Director, Parent Information Center of Delaware
LikeLike
Thanks for sharing this information Keith. How does this funding work? Is it every other year? At first I assumed they only funded new entities in each state or region, but then I found some of them were already around.
LikeLike
PTI grants run on a 5 year cycle. Approximately half of the grants are bid out at one time, roughly a year apart. Delaware’s PTI grant was awarded in 2014.
LikeLike