October 30, 2017
Sarasota County is the only public school district in Florida offering the program. It exists in large part because of a local couple who pitched the program to the Gulf Coast Community Foundation.
The overall cost of the Reading Recovery program this year in Sarasota County Schools is $1.46 million. That includes covering the cost of half the salaries of 34 teachers, a teacher leader, and the training, curriculum and consultant costs.
The program's expansion this year is the result of a public-private partnership that also includes the school district and new donors. Funding also comes from federal Title I dollars, district money for non-Title I schools, the Gulf Coast Community Foundation and the Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation.