Judge: Ny Must Release $69m In Frozen School Grants

A New York court has ordered the state budget director to release more than $69 million in grants for 20 school districts, including Albany, one year after the funds were frozen in a dispute with the state Education Department. On Monday, the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court approved a request to lift the stay and ruled the funds must be immediately disbursed so that they can be used toward programs in the upcoming 2017-18 school year. The decision to freeze the grant funding dates to spring 2016, when the state Education Department announced some 70 schools across New York would be released from its receivership program. The program required struggling schools to boost student achievement within a one- or two-year time frame or face the possibility of an outside takeover.