$25 million grant given to Prince George's County Public Schools

BELTSVILLE, Md. - A three-year, $25 million grant to improve teacher hiring, placement, support and retention will be given to Prince George's County Public Schools.

An announcement of the grant was made on Monday at Greenbelt Middle School by U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen. The "Great Teachers, Great Leaders, Great Schools" grant is one of the largest-ever awarded to Prince George's County schools.

"Great teachers and great leaders will create great schools," said CEO Dr. Kevin M. Maxwell in a statement. "This grant award speaks to a longstanding need in our system that we have lacked the funds to address. I am excited about the work ahead and grateful to our government partners for their support in securing this grant."

The grant is expected to be used at 40 schools with "high needs," according to the county. Those "high needs" school are facilities with high levels of teacher turnover, less experienced teachers and students from families with low-incomes.

Prince George's County Public Schools say the project's goals are to create a diverse candidate pool of high-performing teachers, to enable "best-fit" placements for schools and new teachers, to offer incentives for high-quality teachers, to create a more reliable employee performance system, and to create a data management system with easily accessible information for teachers and school leaders.