PITTSFIELD, Mass. — With a decrease of nearly $1 million in grant funding coming to city schools this year, the School Committee is wondering if now is the time to consider hiring a grant writer.

 

School administrators presented information about the array of grants — state, federal, and private — that help fund various programs inside the schools. Last year, the city reeled in some $7,774,500 from various sources. But this year that number is down to $6,804,161 — a total drop of $970,339.

 

Assistant Superintendent for Business and Finance Kristen Behnke said she remembers only a handful of years ago city schools were seeing funding in the $11 million range. 

 

"We've seen a steady decline in this," she said, adding that the trend is now for many smaller grants but with "more strings attached."

 

The decline of funds led Chairwoman Katherine Yon to question if the city should hire a grant writer. The committee was somewhat split on the issue and Superintendent Jason McCandless said he'd take a closer look at the costs and benefits. 

 

School Committee member Pamela Farron said Berkshire Community College has an "invaluable" grant writer. Staff work with the writer on providing the background and plans for the money while the grant writer can fine-tune the language to up the chances of receiving the funds. The grant writer is also an expert at seeking out grants, building relationships with organizations funding projects, and judging which grants are worth the time and effort. 

 

"I think we are foolish not to do it because it is an important source of revenue for us," Cynthia Taylor said, calling for the committee to "think outside of the box" in finding funding sources to offer stronger programs for students.

 

However, Mayor Linda Tyer and McCandless question the actual use of time. McCandless says many of the grants a grant writer would be seeking aren't worth the effort.

 

"A grant writer just winds up taking an inordinate amount of time often on something that is not truly value added," he said.

 

Tyer said each grant requires specific knowledge about the program seeking funds, meaning an "expert" in that field is required to do most of the work in crafting what the city would do with the funds. 

 

"Each grant has an area of expertise so it would be very difficult for one person or two people to be effective in writing grants for all of these areas of expertise," she said. 

 

School Committee member Anthony Reillo added that many of the federal grants the city is awarded are not competitive so a grant writer wouldn't add much to those. With competitive grants, Reillo suggested contracting with expert writers in the area. 

 

Taylor, however, said more and more school districts are starting to look at competitive sources of revenue and the city should look toward doing that before other local districts do. She said the city could build up a rapport with the funding groups over time and be able to craft an array of programs. She suggested looking at sharing the cost of a writer with other organizations.

 

McCandless said the schools have partnered with other organizations in the past on grants. But sometimes the schools are competing for funds with local organizations to provide the same service. He said he's been talking with various organizations about where services overlap.

 

Deputy Superintendent Joseph Curtis said part of question regarding grants is what happens when the funding ends. He's seen schools "lose momentum" on a subject because the funding ran out and staff had to "restart." 

 

"I've seen so many opportunities that have made a difference but then have gone away," he said. "Many grants we have had stopped some sort of momentum."

 

Tyer agreed saying, "when the grant funds evaporate, then we have a policy discussion about are we going to fund this work with the school or municipal budgets." She said before applying for any grant, that has to be considered.

 

McCandless said not many school districts employ grant writers and in Pittsfield, the administrative staff's workload is already at a peak. 

 

"We're pretty bare bones. We don't quite have enough people to do the work as it is and I think most central offices are facing that type of prospect," he said.