The Broad Foundation has endowed the Broad Prize for Urban Education with $40 million in order to sustain the prize in future years, and it is making some changes in eligibility.
Seventy-five school districts, instead of 100, will be eligible for the Broad prize each year, and four finalists will be selected instead of five. And the Broad prize will be reduced to its original $1 million, from $2 million the past three years.
Eligible districts must serve at least 37,500 students and have at least 40 percent of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch and 40 percent be nonwhite. Erica Lepping, a spokeswoman for the Broad Foundation, said the changes are intended to keep the 10-year-old prize’s focus on large, urban districts with high numbers of low-income students.