Florida, Georgia school districts to split $1 million education prize

ORLANDO, Fla. -- In a first for the prestigious education award, districts in Florida and Georgia will split the $1 million Broad Prize -- the largest education award given to U.S. public schools.

On Monday, the Gwinnett County Public Schools in metro Atlanta and the Orange County Public Schools in Orlando each were promised $500,000 in college scholarships for their high school seniors.

The announcement marked the first time in its 12-year history that the Broad Prize for Urban Education has gone to two districts. The winners were announced by U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan during a ceremony in New York that included a speech by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The prize rewards school districts for improving achievement among disadvantaged students. Criteria include state test scores, graduation rates, performance compared with similar districts in the state, preparation of students for college, and the closing of the achievement gaps between ethnic groups and low-and-high income students.

The two winners were picked from a pool of 75 eligible districts.

In a letter from the selection jury, former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell said the decision to pick only two finalists -- instead of the usual four or five -- was made because of disappointment in how urban schools are progressing; the two finalists became the winners. Other members of the selection jury were former U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala, former U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings and former U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd, CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America.

Jurors viewed progress in urban school districts "as incremental at best," Rendell said in the letter.

Gwinnett County Public Schools, which previously won the prize in 2010, was picked because it is "consistently one of the top performers in Georgia," Rendell said. The district has almost 170,000 students and more than 11,500 teachers. Almost a third of its students are black, and more than a quarter are Hispanic.

Orange County Public Schools was chosen because of its impressive improvement in recent years, the jury said. It has embarked on a major capital campaign, built smaller neighborhood schools and increased the number of magnet schools in the districts. The district has more than 187,000 students and 13,000 teachers. More than a third of its students are Hispanic, and more than a quarter of the student population is black.

"We wrestled with performance versus improvement, considering a steady, consistent district that has demonstrated sustainable gains and an up-and-coming urban district that has galvanized the entire community around raising student achievement - quickly and dramatically," Rendell said. "In the end, we decided both finalists deserved to win the 2014 Broad Prize."

The districts "are doing something right with leadership and laser-like focus," he said.

The prize is sponsored by a foundation run by Edythe and Eli Broad, who made his fortune in home construction and insurance.