By DANIEL HERATY
Times-Herald Newspapers
DEARBORN – Additional funding for adult education will soon be coming to the Dearborn Public School District.
After an agreement approved at the Dearborn Public Schools Board of Education regular meeting Sept. 12, the district is eligible for additional State Section 107 funding, which earmarks funds for adult education. The district earned the funding by offering such programs to residents of both Dearborn and Garden City.
“I think its a win-win agreement for the schools,” Assistant to the Supt. of Dearborn Public Schools Ronald Gutowski said.
For the Garden City School District, it provides services for residents as it did before and keeps them eligible for Section 107 funding. He said the Dearborn district will benefit, since every adult education student that is in class full time generates $2,850 through Section 107 from the state.
The agreement would allow residents of both cities access to the programs offered in Dearborn, including English as a Second Language, Adult basic Education, General Educational Development Preparation and High School Completion.
He said that for Dearborn, it provides capacity for a greater selection of classes and financial improvement so the district can continue to offer adult education classes.
The agreement would also allow for the Garden City district, which eliminated its adult education program in May 2011, to retain the possibility of receiving funding for any future programs under Section 107 of the State School Aid Act. Gutowski said residents in the Garden City district will be notified that they will no longer have the classes, but they can still go to Dearborn.
In return, Dearborn will pay $7,000 in administrative fees for advertising purposes and secretarial work, Gutowski said.
He said district officials hope the program is renewed after the first year.
“Its a good situation,” Gutowski said. “That’s not to say that (Garden City Public Schools) could say they want to do it (themselves) for a while. It’s a mutually cooperative agreement.”
(Daniel Heraty can be reached at [email protected])