U.S. Department of Education Awards $400,000 to Moore Montessori

Moore Montessori Community School has been awarded a $400,000 grant from a U.S. Department of Education program for new charter schools.

Moore County’s third charter and first public Montessori school opened last month in Southern Pines with about 90 students in kindergarten through second grade. The school plans to serve grades K-6 by 2022.

“Our community persevered for two years to make our school a reality,” Katherine Rucker, Moore Montessori’s founder and head of school, said in a statement. “This national recognition underscores the promise of our school community, and the funding ensures we will be able to provide the very best in public Montessori for our students in the years to come.”

The grant from the Charter Schools Program under the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Innovation and Improvement covers two years of expenses related to opening a new school. Moore Montessori’s grant is issued through the National Dissemination Competition to “support efforts by eligible entities to support the charter school sector and increase the number of high-quality charter schools available to our nation’s students.”

U.S. Rep Richard Hudson, who represents Moore County as part of North Carolina’s eighth congressional district, supported Moore Montessori’s application in a letter this past April to Stefan Huh, director of the U.S. Department of Education’s Charter School Program.

“Moore Montessori Community School intends to provide children as young as find years old with a high quality education regardless of ability to pay,” Hudson wrote. “It is my understanding that funding from the grant would be used to provide students with access to programs intended to increase their likelihood of enrolling in post-secondary education upon graduation.”

Charter schools in North Carolina derive the bulk of their funding from the state and county. They are funded at a similar per-pupil level to the traditional public schools in the regions they serve. However, they are not entitled to local funds to build, buy, or lease facilities as established public school districts are.

Among the federal Charter School Program’s goals is to expand charter school spaces for children with disabilities, students whose families do not speak English at home, and other underserved populations.

For its first year, Moore Montessori’s application requested funding for furniture and Montessori learning materials for five classrooms, computers, and fees for professional development through the National Center for Montessori in the Public Sector.

For the 2019-2020 school year, the grant will cover costs associated with outfitting an additional classroom for first through third grade — Montessori classrooms group students spanning three years in age — as the school grows. Other costs outlined for that year include further professional development and the purchase of a school bus.

“It is a major undertaking to open a new school, especially one with a unique approach to education. I am thankful for the hard work and dedication of our founding board, the MMCS faculty and staff, and the support we have received from our parents and community,” said Ben Greene, chair of the Moore Montessori board of directors. “We are eager to move to the next step in providing a quality Montessori education program to our community.”

Moore Montessori’s staff of 15 includes five teachers with training through Association Montessori Internationale and previous experience in Montessori classrooms. Each classroom is also staffed by an assistant teacher.

The $400,480 total grant award is for Oct. 1 through Sept. 30, 2020. After that, the school is eligible for $330,000 of continued grant funding over the following three years.