Osceola County Schools awarded $2.6M to help fund gifted education program

OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — The Osceola County school district is getting $2.6 million to help support exceptional students.

The district was awarded a highly-competitive grant to spend over the next five years.

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Out of 47 applicants, the district is the only recipient in Florida and only one of three school districts to receive the Javits grant money. The other 10 winners are universities.

Right now, less than 0.5% of students in the district are in a gifted program.

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Part of the money awarded from the Javits grant will help figure out who else falls in the category, especially targeting those who speak a second language. In the district, that’s one in four students.

It’s also going to pay for teacher training, including sending 10 teachers to get their master’s degrees, and two to get their doctorates.

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The district says it still has some final paperwork to hash out before it can pick the teachers to send to the higher education courses. It expects to begin the process on Nov. 1.

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