Twenty-five million dollars in federal grant money will soon be headed to Georgia’s schools to help students learn to read. The state was one of six to win a federal grant to help communities coordinate their literacy efforts from birth through twelfth grade.

The state will use the money to fund its own grant competition for districts who can demonstrate they need the money to help more students learn to read.

Julie Morill, a literacy specialist at the state department of education, says that she doesn’t want the money to fund jobs that will vanish when the grant money goes away. Instead, she says, the funds should help districts build their long-term capacity to teach reading.

"I don’t want an over-reliance on staff, so we’re really looking for more technology; they should have heavy literacy materials and supplies, and for the teachers to have the best training," Morill says.

Fifteen percent of the money will go to programs to boost literacy skills in children younger than age five. The rest will support students in kindergarten through twelfth grade.

Morill says that the goal is to build school districts’ capacity to improve literacy rates even after the grant runs out.

"Making sure that both the birth to five area is firmed up, if it’s not, or maybe that’s a strength in their area and it’s an elementary problem, or could be teacher training," Morill says. "But what we want them to do is to perform a needs assessment thinking about all of the systems that drive their literacy instruction all the way through."

School districts will have to compete for the money, and the state will award the money to one urban school district, two suburban districts and six rural districts each year.