Buffum Elementary School is one of four Long Beach Unified schools to receive a Title I Academic Achievement Award for the 2010-11 school year, but due to state funding cuts, the school district plans to close the school beginning next school year.
3:45pm | Three Long Beach schools and one school in Lakewood, all of them part of Long Beach Unified School District, were named earlier today by the state superintendent of public instruction as recipients of the Title I Academic Achievement Award.
The schools are Jane Addams, Charles Buffum and Patrick Henry elementary schools in Long Beach and James Madison Elementary School in Lakewood, said LBUSD spokesman Chris Eftychiou.
The schools are among a total of 209 statewide to earn the honor for the 2010-11 school year. A list of the additional 205 California schools receiving the award can be accessed by clicking here.
“These schools have demonstrated exceptional commitment to the education of their students and have achieved impressive results,” said State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson in a prepared statement. “I congratulate all those who put forth the extra effort that resulted in tis prestigious award — school administrators and staff, teachers, parents and, of course, the students themselves.”
The award is presented on an annual basis to schools that receive Title I federal funding under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Recipient schools must demonstrate that all students are making significant progress toward proficiency in English language arts and mathematics as measured by California’s academic content standards, state education officials said.
Additionally, all socioeconomically disadvantaged students at the school must have doubled their state-set achievement targets for two consecutive years, state education officials said.
Title I funds assist schools in meeting the educational needs of students living near or at the poverty level. The program represents the single largest federal educational expenditure for K-12 public education. Roughly two thirds of public schools statewide, or more than 6,000 of the state’s more than 9,000 public schools, receive Title I funding.
Buffum is one of two LBUSD elementary schools scheduled to be shuttered beginning next school year as part of the school district’s plan to offset state funding cuts estimated to cost the district as much as $760 per student next school year. The closure of Buffum and Burroughs elementary schools has been estimated to result in a savings of roughly $1.3 million.
Schools receiving the award are set to be feted during a reception and banquet at the Disneyland Hotel on May 20.
Additional information about the reception and banquet can be obtained by clicking here.