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The Bartlesville Regional United Way has provided $10,000 in funding to Bartlesville Education Promise for 2017.

Bartlesville Education Promise Chairman, Martin Garber says his organization has been encouraged by the number of donors and volunteers that are helping our schools.  Bartlesville Education Promise is providing teachers to stay after school as tutors in ALL Bartlesville Schools. Garber says comments from  teachers indicate BEP efforts are making a difference.

The overall goal of BEP programs is to improve the graduation rate in the Bartlesville schools. Over the last 10 years, the graduation rate has dropped to 83 percent. A large part of this is due to a reduction in state funding and a growth in families who quality for free and reduced lunches at school, which is a good measure of how many lower income students are present in a school district. More than 50 percent of children in Bartlesville Public Schools qualify for free and reduced lunches. Also, nearly 250 students have trouble with the English language, and 400 students are classified as “homeless,” all of which puts these youth at risk of not doing well in school, leading to them dropping out.

Garber says efforts will take time, but, we know if our community continues to provide the support we are seeing, we will meet our goal of an increased graduation rate.