Funding Found To Set Up Charter School at Curtis

Funding has been secured to help turn the closed elementary school at Curtis into a charter school.

The Curtis-based Three Lakes Area Education Committee has learned from the state that it will receive a $160,000 start-up grant to assist the development of Three Lakes Academy, a charter school project started in response to the closing of Curtis Elementary School by the Tahquamenon Area Schools Board of Education.

The grant is to be used to continue developing the proposed school's curriculum and the hiring of advisors, said Donna O'Grady of Three Lakes.

The funding is provided by the U.S. Department of Education.

The award is the first round in a series of grants that can total up to $460,000. If the committee receives an authorizing agent for its academy, it will qualify for the next round of funding, Mrs. O'Grady said. The committee has applied to organizations authorized to oversee charter schools.

Representatives from the committee will attend a charter school founders meeting in Lansing Wednesday, June 4, after which the group will have more information to report.

Members of the Curtis community formed the Three Lakes Committee about two years ago. Concerned that Tahquamenon would close Curtis Elementary School to cut costs, residents sought a way to continue educating their children locally and avoid busing them to distant districts.

The committee hopes to have its school open for the 2009-2010 school year. The grant offers a better chance to secure a chartering agent to do so.

The project has received enthusiastic support from many Curtis residents.