McEachin proposes $1.5 million in federal funding for Achievable Dream Academy at Highland Springs ES
Table of Contents
U.S Representative Donald McEachin (VA-4th District) has proposed $1.5 million in federal funding for An Achievable Dream Academy at Highland Springs Elementary School. The funding would ensure its ability to implement the Social, Academic and Moral Education (or SAME) framework as it expands to the middle school level this fall and would allow the program to provide wrap-around and other supportive services to students and their families, according to McEachin.
The request is among 10 projects McEachin has submitted to the U.S. House Appropriations Committee for potential funding. The committee allows each representative to propose a maximum of 10 projects in his or her district for funding each year, though only a handful from each district may be funded.
Projects are restricted to a limited number of federal funding streams, and only state and local governments and eligible non-profit entities are permitted to receive funding.
The Henrico School Board voted earlier this year to expand the Achievable Dream program to the middle school level, several months after expressing significant concerns about the lack of reading progress exhibited by students at the school.
Henrico began its partnership with An Achievable Dream Academy, a Newport News-based organization, in 2017. The program is designed to change the way underserved communities are educated. Students attend class year-round, wear uniforms, and take part in a variety of extracurricular activities and opportunities designed to extend the impact of the program beyond the classroom.
At the end of last school year, grade-by-grade data showed that only 3% to 19% of students were reading on grade level.
But in late February, School Board members indicated that their questions about the program had been answered sufficiently enough for them to feel confident expanding the program.
Henrico Schools will have spent nearly $15 million on An Achievable Dream Academy during its first five years by the end of this school year, and officials are planning to spend another $6.2 million on it in the coming fiscal year, which begins July 1.
