Brownsville ISD has been chosen as one of five regional finalists in the 2012 H-E-B Excellence in Education Early Childhood Awards Program. As a finalist, BISD will receive a check for $5,000 and is eligible to win an additional $25,000. As part of the selection process, a team from H-E-B will visit the district on Monday, February 20. The H-E-B Excellence in Education Early Childhood Award is designed to support public or private schools or not-for-profit learning agencies that focus on the care and education of children under the age of five. The purpose of the award is to offer support to help create or enhance Kinder Readiness programs that prepare children to enter Kindergarten socially and academically ready to learn. The 5 regional finalists will each be presented with a check for $5,000 to apply towards the enhancement of existing Kinder Readiness activities or creating new programs for the target population. The overall state winner will be announced and awarded an additional $25,000 grant to apply towards enhancing existing Kinder Readiness programs or creating a new program for the target population.

The Texas Education Agency recently announced that Brownsville ISD has been preliminarily selected to receive a grant for the 2011-2013 Texas Literacy Initiative (TLI) grant program. BISD is one of 30 districts chosen statewide and four from the Rio Grande Valley. The purpose of the TLI grant program is to improve school readiness and success in the areas of language and literacy for disadvantaged students in targeted school districts who will use the model of Literacy Lines to implement the Texas State Literacy Plan (TSLP). The goals of the grant program are to (1) increase the oral language and preliteracy skills of participating preschool children; (2) improve the performance of participating K–2 students on early reading assessments; (3) increase the percentage of participating students who meet or exceed proficiency on the state English language arts assessments in grades 3–12; (4) increase the use of data and data analysis to inform all decision making in participating districts, campuses, classrooms, and early learning settings; and (5) increase the implementation of effective literacy instruction through Literacy Lines.