STATE GRANTS AWARDED FOR CLASSROOMS FOR THE FUTURE

HARRISBURG, Oct. 2 – State Sen. Connie Williams announced that four Montgomery County school districts  were among the 79 Pennsylvania schools selected to participate in the Classrooms For the Future grant program.

"This program allows students and educators to move beyond blackboards and textbooks by integrating technology into the classroom," Williams said. "The goal of the program is to harness the power of technology to increase student achievement, which in turn assures that students are ready for higher education and to compete in the global marketplace."

The 79 school districts that were selected will be the first of the state's 501 to participate in the program, which was funded as part of the 2006-07 state budget. The initiative will invest $20 million to equip schools' English, math, science and social studies classrooms with enhanced technology, laptop computers and other state-of-the-art resources and $6 million in state and federal funds to provide teachers and school leaders with training on using technology to increase student achievement.

17^th Senatorial School Districts selected as the first grant recipients are:

• Colonial School District -- $202,539

• Lower Merion School District -- $415,146

• Norristown Area School District -- $415,146

• Upper Merion Area School District -- $153,673

Classrooms For the Future was part of the state's high school reform program.