Federal Grant Will Expand Educational TV Network
A Spokane educational television network will expand with help from a $10 million federal grant awarded Friday.
Educational Service District 101 plans to use the money from the U.S. Department of Education to produce science and foreign language courses for elementary and middle school students.
It’s the second $10 million grant the district has received in just over a year.
ESD 101 is a state-supported provider of education courses, transmitted to 33 states. Producers expect to transmit 1,800 hours of live programming this year.
“Most of our heavy users tend to be in smaller, rural locations that don’t have the offerings you’d find in bigger districts,” said spokesman Steve Witter.
The district is also working to recruit home-school students.
The new, five-year grant will help produce Japanese and Spanish classes for kindergarten and first-grade students, beginning next month. The network will also offer a new science course called Young Astronauts for middle school students.
The federal grant received last year was spent on a literacy program for adults. Those classes started in January and will continue for four years, Witter said.
The network is reaching about 200,000 people each year but will probably grow to about 500,000 in the next few years, said Brian Talbott, district superintendent.
, DataTimes