The U.S. Department of Education announced today that it is accepting applications for grants to establish and operate Parental Information and Resource Centers. These centers will help parents participate more effectively in their children's education by providing information to school personnel who work with parents; coordinating early childhood programs with school-age programs; and informing the parents of children who attend schools in need of improvement about their options.

The notices and applications, as posted in the Federal Register, can be downloaded from the department's Web site at www.ed.gov/GrantApps/#84.310A. Applications are due to the department by July 18, 2003.

The competition is open to non-profit agencies, including faith-based organizations and community organizations, and consortia of non-profit agencies and school districts. However, under the program's statute, school districts alone are not eligible to apply funding.

The Secretary of Education is placing special emphasis this year on first-time applicants and applicants who propose specific strategies to help parents better understand their state accountability system, and how to access the public school choice and supplemental educational services opportunities provided by the No Child Left Behind Act.

Under these provisions, students attending schools that need improvement must be given the opportunity to transfer to a better performing public school in their own school district, or to a high-performing charter school in the area. In addition, supplemental educational services, such as after-school tutoring or academic summer camps, must be made available to students from low-income families who attend schools that have been in need of improvement for more than a year.

Nearly $21 million has been made available for the three-year grants. The department expects to make 40 awards, ranging from $200,000 to $700,000 for the first year of these projects.

For more information on the PIRC program, see www.ed.gov/offices/OII/portfolio/pirc.html. For more information about public school choice and supplemental services, see http://www.ed.gov/offices/OII/choice/oii.html.

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