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Marion County K-12 schools will receive up to $600 million from Lilly Endowment Inc. through the end of 2025 to improve students’ academic achievement and help them succeed after graduation.
The funds will be awarded on a competitive basis. Public schools in Marion County will compete for the bulk of the $450 million in funds, while private schools will be eligible for the remaining $150 million. More than 300 schools – public, charter and private – will have the opportunity to apply, according to a news release from the foundation Thursday.
The guidelines for the grants are broad, allowing schools to tailor the initiatives to their students. When reviewing projects for postsecondary success, the foundation is particularly interested in initiatives that enable students to earn college degrees or industry-recognized credentials and develop skills they need for their future careers, says Judith Cebula, director of communications at Lilly Endowment.
The Lilly Foundation announced the grants as Indiana policymakers prepare to change high school graduation requirements and place more emphasis on preparing students for careers. Too many students in the county “are not achieving adequate educational success,” said Ted Maple, the foundation’s vice president for education.
The foundation wants to address the barriers to educational success, Cebula said in an email to Chalkbeat, including the impact of the pandemic and mental health issues. Because school leaders understand these issues particularly well, the foundation is funding proposals that “would be most effective in their own context,” she said. (Chalkbeat receives funding from the Lilly Endowment Inc.)
The foundation has previously provided funding for education and post-secondary success programs in Indiana. In 2022, Lilly provided $85 million for phonics-focused literacy instruction and $28.8 million for youth camps on Indiana’s college campuses.
The $600 million grant program is about a third larger than the $456 million budget that Indianapolis Public Schools approved for this year.
Some projects may focus on short-term improvements in learning outcomes, the press release said, such as teaching programs, but the foundation is also open to projects that address fundamental learning issues such as food insecurity and chronic truancy.
“We encourage school leaders to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by these initiatives to identify and implement promising, evidence-based approaches at the local, national or global level to address the relevant educational challenges and opportunities facing their students,” said Ted Maple, the foundation’s vice president for education, in the press release.
Grants are divided into three phases: planning, implementation and competitive grants. Phase 1 helps applicants develop proposals, and Phase 2 helps implement promising projects. Phase 3 sees schools compete for the largest grants.
Recipients have five years to use the funds.
Schools can find out more about the funding here.
Haley Miller is a summer intern covering education in the Indianapolis area. You can reach Haley at [email protected]
