Gates Foundation to give Seattle schools $7.2 million

In a lucrative vote of confidence in Seattle Public Schools, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will give the district $7.2 million over the next three years, saying it is impressed with the five-year plan developed under Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson.

The grant is one of four the district plans to announce Tuesday, for a total of $9 million.

The Gates Foundation's contribution is its first major donation to the city's public schools since 2000, when it gave a five-year, $26 million grant, one of the first in its initial $350 million effort to improve the nation's schools.

The foundation did not renew the Seattle grant when it expired 3 ½ years ago. Tom Vander Ark, who then headed the foundation's education giving, said the school district didn't show the kind of improvement, leadership and planning the foundation was looking for.

Now the foundation is much more optimistic about where Seattle schools are headed under a new superintendent and School Board.

Vicki Phillips, who replaced Vander Ark, says the foundation has watched closely since Goodloe-Johnson became superintendent in July 2007, and thinks the district's five-year plan "has the potential to carry the district forward in some very powerful ways."

Along with the Gates Foundation's gift, $1.2 million is coming from the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, $308,000 from Boeing and $254,000 from the Stuart Foundation.

Goodloe-Johnson said she's very excited about the support.

The donors, she said, "will be proud. They'll see significant movement forward."

The $9 million boost will help the district keep its five-year plan on track, she said, even as it must cut an estimated $24 million in expenses to make sure it stays in the black in the 2009-10 school year.

The grants can't be used to fill gaps in the district's day-to-day budget. They are earmarked for specific projects aimed at improving teaching, preparing more students for college, and producing more and better data about how students — and the district — are doing.

A few examples of where the dollars will go:

• More college-level Advanced Placement courses for high-school students, and training more teachers to teach those courses.

• A new exam, now being piloted in a few schools, that would give teachers and parents more frequent and timely information about how well students are doing.

• Streamlining hiring practices so that Seattle doesn't lose great teachers to neighboring districts simply because it takes so long to process their applications.

The Alliance for Education, a nonprofit organization that raises funds for Seattle Public Schools, will manage all four grants. The district must show progress each year in order to get the full $9 million, said President and CEO Patrick D'Amelio.

The Gates Foundation's gift also is one of the first since Phillips started working there and the foundation revamped its strategy in education giving.

The foundation still thinks that high schools should be smaller, Phillips said, but in Seattle and elsewhere, the foundation will also focus on supporting good teaching with tools, training and research.

The $7.2 million for Seattle isn't big by Gates standards, but Phillips said it is significant for a district of Seattle's size. The foundation recently gave $8 million to support data systems in the entire state of Texas.

Phillips wouldn't say whether grants for other Washington school districts are possible in the near future. But she did say the foundation continues to have a strong commitment to supporting its home state, including schools.

Linda Shaw: 206-464-2359 or lshaw@seattletimes.com