The schools get every dime. Now everybody gets an equal share. There are safeguards. Schools have to write a grant request. The grant system was set up in 1998, and is supervised by a joint House-Senate oversight committee which meets the first Wednesday of every month, said Dianne Harper, clerk for the committee.
Grants are open to public inspection.
She said grants appropriated this budget year were trimmed 13 percent when Siegelman announced education budget cuts in February. Rep. John Knight, D-Montgomery, also likes the grants. The program was set up because there were so many complaints about legislators having pork. We felt the community services grants program was an effective way to have money available that legislators could have for priority projects. I send it to neighborhood schools.