June 11, 2002 - Baltimore City Public Schools

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Board Meeting Minutes of new funding sources at federal, state, and private sources, and that will continue and will increase. We implemented an announcement memo process, which means that as we find grants and we announce them, we have a formal process that is run through the CAO and COO to see that we can identify a grant manager from the very beginning, and review what partners are interested in each grants, and to make those determinations from the start. We have procured some subscriptions to print and nonprint resources that have helped us find new grant sources for us. And we have increased the needs on functions of grants in the agencies. And this is very important, because we have been able to recover some grant funding that we thought had been lost. And we have been able to help our submission process. Particularly, a couple grant agencies are now requiring electronic submissions. So that has been new for us, and we've been pleased to have done that. Getting down to some numbers. Since October, we have found 60 proposal opportunities, for a total of $46.3 million. And in our monthly finance committee meetings, we provide Commissioner Jones and Commissioner Streuver with a full listing, so they have every single grant that we've found, whether it's submitted or not and whether it's awarded or not. We can make those reports available to any other Commissioner, if desired. Just let us know. Of the 60 proposals that we have found, we've submitted 37 grants, for 28.2 million. We have another 23 pending review, for 18.1 million. Those figures will fluctuate every month as we submit and as we find new grants. Now, looking closely, of the 37 grants that we have submitted to date, for 22 million, we have already won 15 of them, for 19.2 million. We have 21 of them that are still pending notification, for another 8.4 million of potential awards for the Baltimore City Schools. And we have one grant that's been denied to date. So the national win ratio for grant submission is about 10 percent, or is expected that applicants will win one out of ten that are submitted. And you can see by our numbers that we've already accomplished a good 50 percent, and we have a potential for 90 percent in the ratio. MR. SMOLARZ: And these grants that you have given us are competitive grants, they're not the entitlement. So these are the ones where that win/lost ratio is relevant. Any questions? MR. STREUVER: When we finish after this -- I'm just nervous on this whole underspending of our restricted grants. MR. STRINGFIELD: Worse than that. Page 30 of 41 MR. STREUVER: It's hard to say. But we've -- the staff has been working with Commissioner Jones and myself is a very nice way of putting it. And it was great at the end of this last Finance Committee meeting, and, by tradition, go around to around robbins rabbit of parting thoughts. And our MSD member on the committee, John Lange, said at least fantastic progress was being made. And the State has been a long-time critic of the School System's inability to spend restrictive grant money. And so I think it's really terrific the progress that we've made. We're eager to see the automation of the system so it's easier to turn out the reports. We're eager to see how we end up at June 30th. But when John Lange made that comment, I thought it was just -- for a State partner to be saying that was great. The one thing that surprised me, not just that we're doing such a great job -- I mean, 15 yeses and one no, with yeses at $19.2 million, is just phenomenal. And I'm just frustrated that, in view of the Bryant Pritchard shot, that it went vacant in January and still hasn't been replaced. And I'm looking for three -- at that rate, they might -- you know, I'm a businessman, and, you know, invest money where you get a nice payback. And I look at the size of our staff and I look at that payback, and I say Holy Schmolly, this is the place where we ought to be investing more in the kind of talent that we have in our grant staff. And particularly combined with exciting -- because I think the School System is doing generally -- as we get a reputation of being one of the fastest improved big city school districts in the country, that more and more people are going to want to get on the bandwagon, the Carman Russo bandwagon, and help support us, and something like shooting fish in a barrel maybe and the grants. I'm -- for the next one, I've been waiting to do a round robin where we can say this is fantastic. We've hired three new Brian Pritchards. file://S:\CMS_Content\meetings\2002\J11_02.html 9/23/2002
Board Meeting Minutes MR. SMOLARZ: We're working on that. MS. WELCH: Any idea about filling that position, any ideas? MR. SMOLARZ: I'm working with Ms. Dudley right now on replacing several folks. And she and I are moving ahead with that. MS. SIEGEL: When do you think we'll be able to do that? MR. STREUVER: This soon, in my book. MS. WELCH: I was just thinking about that. MR. STRINGFIELD: You said something about when your office becomes automated? MS. NORRIS: Yes. We have done a preliminary assessment of the Oracle database. And the School District has purchased it, and we've purchased several components of it. I was sent to Oracle training in March. And I've produced a report. And as a result of that report, we've been working with IT and how it works. So we're putting out a discovery for consultants to help us answer some additional questions before we go forward. There are some questions about the Oracle grant accounting modules that is different from the other modules that were working. MR. STRINGFIELD: This report isn't the same thing that you did last time, but it's a turn on investment issues. And there's just no reason at all for not stepping on the gas harder on this thing. And you'll have the Board's support on this. We want to go faster and we want to go harder. We want to do whatever it is. You'll have the support of the Board to go faster. And if something starts getting slowed down, but this has, of course, never happened before in Baltimore City or anywhere, but if something gets stuck in, say, HR or an unlikely place like that, I mean, come to us. We'll just -- and we will push. MS. NORRIS: Absolutely. And I'd also like to thank Commissioner Jones and Commissioner Streuver, because they have really been partners with me as we are developing what we do, and as we bring storms and put into place -- this is all going to be new services that this school district is receiving. And I appreciate their input and support so much. MR. JONES: Just real quick. We've had a conversation about that Oracle binder, but I haven't seen the report. Can you send it to the Board Office? MS. NORRIS: Absolutely. Page 31 of 41 MS. MURPHY: It sounds great. I'm assuming that these grants are, across the curriculum, are supporting new initiatives. Will that be in the full report, so that we can see, just because we do need some curriculum support? And I'm hoping that these grants are in that area. MS. NORRIS: Absolutely. And I can send you a copy of the itemized report so you can see for yourself. But not only are we very careful to identify which administrative areas this grant belongs to, but we also tie each grant to a Master Plan objective, so you can see that. We're making an effort to get every single objective. MR. TILDON: I guess that's really sort of my question. I just would like to know where our various grants are going. Back up the management. You track an individual grant to determine spending, but file://S:\CMS_Content\meetings\2002\J11_02.html 9/23/2002
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June 11, 2002 - Baltimore City Public Schools

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