Groton — The Board of Education voted Monday night to allocate an additional $979,541 for the 2017-18 school budget thanks to the school system being designated an Alliance District.

The money will be used to hire additional paraprofessionals, special education teachers and math and literacy specialists, offset a current budget shortfall, and pay for membership in the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education.

Superintendent Michael Graner had recommended how to allocate the funding of $1.57 million, with the remainder to be voted on later.

While non-Alliance District systems are seeing cuts in state education aid, those that have the designation are not seeing a reduction in state aid. This resulted in the school system here being able to allocate the additional $1.57 million.     [naviga:img src="https://www.theday.com/assets/news2015/accountability-index-sect-school-districts.png" alt="" align="right" width="450" height="453" border="0" vspace="5" hspace="5"/]

The Board of Education felt the urgency of allocating money for personnel but wanted to wait on other expenditures, after a few Northeast Academy Elementary parents expressed concerns about the arts magnet school not having enough funding for items such as  theater productions and instruments.

Graner and Assistant Superintendent Susan Austin plan to speak with the principals of both elementary magnet schools – Northeast Academy and Catherine Kolnaski – about their needs.

The $1.57 million will return the district to its funding levels from last year, whereas the Town Council had implemented a 2 percent cut when passing the school budget in the spring. The Alliance District designation requires school funding to be no less than the previous year.

When Graner found out that Groton had been named an Alliance District, his initial reaction was surprise, considering student performance had been improving, he told The Day on Monday.

He told board members the previous Monday night he didn't know why Groton had been named an Alliance District, and Department of Education officials have not yet set up a meeting with him to discuss what requirements the school system now has to meet.

Groton was named an Alliance District because of its relatively low index on Connecticut's Next Generation Accountability System, a set of 13 indicators meant to paint a picture of performance that extends beyond test scores.[naviga:img src="https://www.theday.com/assets/news2015/state-groton-comparison.png" alt="" align="right" width="450" height="747" border="0" vspace="5" hspace="5"/]

The 2015-16 school year was only the second year in which this system was used. The Alliance District program was established by state statute in 2012, and the sole criterion for the 30 districts selected then was performance on state assessments.

Among the 33 Alliance Districts, Groton has the third-highest accountability index, attaining 73.2 percent of points across the 13 factors.

The other two Alliance Districts in the region, Norwich and New London, have respective scores of 62.3 and 58, putting them in the bottom 10 in the state.

The scores for individual schools in Groton ranged from 58.4 at West Side Middle School to 85.5 at Northeast Academy Elementary.

At the Board of Education meeting Monday night, West Side parent Portia Bordelon reiterated her concerns over lack of remedial support funding at the school.

The average index statewide is about 73.1, according to Desi Nesmith, chief turnaround officer in the Department of Education.

The reason Groton can have a score slightly higher than the state average and still be an Alliance District is that the state average includes all students in the state, but many schools and districts are not eligible to be Alliance Districts.

The program excludes technical high schools, endowed academies, public charter schools, regional educational service centers, unified school districts, and districts with fewer than 1,000 students.

The designation of current Alliance Districts lasts from 2017-18 to 2021-22, regardless of improvement in performance.

Section 224 of the budget passed in October mandated the designation of 33 Alliance Districts: those with the 30 lowest accountability indexes, or those that were previously designated as an Alliance District.

Among the 13 indicators on the Next Generation Accountability Results, Groton had seven that were worse than the state average: English Language Arts performance, ELA academic growth, chronic absenteeism, preparation for college and career readiness, six-year graduation for high-needs students, postsecondary entrance, and physical fitness.

As an Alliance District, Groton must submit a plan to the state, and the plan will likely focus on the areas that are furthest from meeting the target or below the state average.

"Their plan needs to be built around their needs, so there are some pretty broad buckets," Nesmith said, citing elements like reading and math intervention, professional development and attracting teachers.

There is no timeline for Groton's submission of a plan yet, considering the Turnaround Office – the Connecticut Department of Education office that manages the Alliance District program – is still waiting on the legislature to see how much more money Groton will get.

Graner knew in the spring there was a possibility Groton might become an Alliance District, but a state official advised him not to share the information then, the superintendent said, because the program was expiring on June 30.

"It was only at the last minute when they, in fact, passed the budget that the Alliance District was in fact a reality," Graner said.

Ajit Gopalakrishnan, chief performance officer for the Department of Education, said state officials in the spring were simulating who might become an Alliance District based on 2015-16 data that was released in February.

About the data: The Next Generation Accountability System uses 13 indicators to measure district performance holistically, rather than focusing only on test scores. The districts with the lowest scores are Alliance Districts, though some are excluded, such as technical high schools, public charter schools and districts with fewer than 1000 students.

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