Now, with cuts in discretionary funds, Bass is planning for half that number next summer and anticipates it may be able to serve only the targeted students. In addition, Bass is cutting back on planned computer purchases and stipends paid to parent aides, which Kemp says will hamper the school's efforts to get off the state's so-called watch list of schools that score low on the state's IGAP tests. Kemp thinks that schools should be expected to pay no more than half the cost of the bridge program. Further, Heath is concerned that the school's rollover amount may be smaller than anticipated, in which case the school will have to cut supplies and other programs. We are operating on a shoestring budget.
Heath has other concerns about the program, too.
Not all the kinks have been worked out. It makes them accountable for their own learning. Anna Correa, principal of Stockton School in Uptown, says that forcing schools to pay for the bridge program themselves makes them more accountable, too. You can't blame the board because half your kids are on remediation. Correa estimates that only nine pupils at Stockton, a K-5 school, will qualify next summer.