COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — If approved next week, Ohio’s firstround of education innovation grants will
go to foster careers inmanufacturing and the drilling industry and early college and specialtyprograms
tailored to Appalachia, Amish Country and the Great Lakes.Avote scheduled Monday would clear the way for the
first $88 million ofRepublican Gov. John Kasich’s new Straight A Fund to be spent.Abouta quarter of Straight
A grant requests before the Ohio ControllingBoard tie in some way to fostering Ohio’s growing oil and gas
drillingindustry — an economic driver that Kasich wants to see continue toflourish and create jobs.Kasich
launched the $250 million fund inSeptember, including it in the $62 billion, two-year state operatingbudget.
The grant program was pitched as a way to reward creative ideasthat significantly boost student achievement,
reduce spending or targetan impressive share of resources into the classroom. Its critics havesaid it gave
the governor control over a chunk of money that should havebeen evenly divided among Ohio’s cash-strapped
school districts.Manyfinalists for grants strive for goals in line with Kasich’s educationphilosophy, such
as cutting administrative costs, expanding digitallearning and blending the transition between high school
and collegethrough early college, dual enrollment or campus sharing arrangements,among other plans.One
nearly $13 million grant would establishMarysville Early College High School and Union County Innovation
Centerin a joint venture including the local school district, chamber ofcommerce and Honda of America. Early
College 2.0 in Dayton would receive$478,000 to establish a low-cost "Smart Summer" program
helpingstudents retain what they’ve learned during their summer break, amongother features.The largest grant
would send nearly $15 million toan Appalachian collaborative of 27 rural school districts serving48,000
students.The Ohio Appalachian Collaborative PersonalizedLearning Network cites among Its goals amplifying
the talent pipelinefor jobs involving the natural-gas-rich Marcellus and Utica shales. Theconsortium would
also work to eliminate a gap between rural and urbanstudents by making college and advanced high school
opportunities moreaccessible and affordable.The POWER project (ProvidingOpportunities with Extraordinary
Results) would receive $4 million fromthe pot, in part to improve opportunities for students in the
energyfield.The program was created by the Carrollton Exempted VillageSchools with Battelle for Kids, Ohio
State University and others.Carroll County is at the center of Ohio’s hydraulic fracturing boom.TwoHamilton
County school districts, Cincinnati City and Princeton, wouldreceive $14.5 million, if approved, to improve
educational services andresources for the region’s exploding population of English languagelearners. Future
CLASS for Diverse Learners would serve an estimated14,400 students and families with English classes for
parents andadditional translation of the districts’ most-used documents, amongother things.Other grants
would highlight notable cultural orscientific aspects of the state. One establishes a $205,000
"Cabinets ofWonder" initiative on literacy, arts and the Amish-Mennonite culture inHolmes County.
Another sends $525,000 to build outdoor innovation labson Kelley’s Island in conjunction with the Akron
Inventors Hall of Fame,Biomed Science Academy, Columbus City Schools, Ashland University andothers.Finalists
were chosen through a multistep process thatincluded application scoring and review by some 30 grant
advisers,including professional educators and community and corporate leaders.The nine-member Straight A
Governing Board made up of four Kasichappointees, four appointees of Republican legislative leaders and
thestate superintendent made the final recommendations.Of the $100million from the fund available this year,
legislators earmarked $11.4million for projects that included Kids Unlimited of Toledo, anafter-school
tutoring and mentoring program; Cleveland Municipal SchoolDistrict for implementation of the Cleveland Plan;
and qualifyingdistricts to find ways to trim transportation costs.Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All
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