Gov. Bill Lee and Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn awarded 21 Governor’s Civics Seal mini-grants promoting life-long civic engagement in schools and districts across the state.

“Teaching civics to our students is a key priority of my administration, and I’m pleased to see this initiative is taking shape,” said Gov.Lee. “Thanks to these new resources, we can better prepare our students in the classroom and in life for what it means to be a citizen of this great nation.”

The mini-grants allocate $220,000 to support public schools and districts implementing high-quality civic education programs that result in readiness for college, career, and civic life. The grants will be used in the 2020-21 school year to fund programs that include:

• Promoting life-long civic engagement by providing access to high-quality, standards-based civics resources.

• Establishing civics programs in rural and urban schools and districts.

• Supporting highly effective educators through civics-based professional development.

• Preparing schools and districts to earn the Governor’s Civics Seal.

“Our Best for All strategic plan calls for providing teachers and students with access to high-quality instructional materials and focusing on supporting the whole child development, including through opportunities to become more civically engaged, and this program will help us do just that,” said Commissioner Schwinn.

Warren County Schools is the recipient of a district-level grant totaling $15,000. According to Director of Schools Bobby Cox, the funds will be used for our district to provide high-quality standards-based civics resources, establish civics programming, and or provide civics-based professional development.

“This money will go towards civic activities among all the schools as well as the Model UN Club for civic activities as well as their meets,” explained Cox. “For example, a school could bring in speakers to talk about government and how it operates.”