Federal officials announced late last month that 15 Maine schools would share a $27.1 million grant to pay their teachers to pursue an advanced credential and fund a teacher evaluation system based on students’ performance.

In the month since the announcement, details about the grant and its rules for participating schools have been few. Administrators for eight of the 15 schools say they’re still uncertain about participating. And one superintendent whose school is listed as a participant says his district isn’t interested and never signed onto the grant application.

“This is a lot of money. It’s a nationwide competition,” said Gary Rosenthal, assistant superintendent and curriculum coordinator for Regional School Unit 12. “I’m just shocked that literally nothing has been said from the Department of Education about this. Not a word.”

Some of the uncertainty surrounding the award is expected to end next week, as officials from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards – the organization in Arlington, Va. that is coordinating the grant project — visit Maine and meet with participants.

The $27.1 million award, which the Maine schools will split with eight schools in Richmond, Va., was one of 62 that the U.S. Department of Education gave out from its Teacher Incentive Fund on Sept. 23.

The grant-funded project offers teachers incentives to take classes that lead to an advanced teaching credential, and bonuses once they receive the credential.

The five-year pilot project also offers bonuses to staff members who teach hard-to-staff subject areas, and to teachers who meet goals for improving academic performance.

Teachers are limited to $7,500 in bonus pay each year, said Anna Davis, executive director for government relations with the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

RSU 12 signed a memorandum of understanding indicating that two of its schools – Somerville Elementary and Wiscasset Primary schools – would participate. But the document was not a binding agreement, according to state officials. Rosenthal said the teachers are interested, but the district has yet to decide whether to commit.

“You really can’t home in on certain things, or really have any further conversation, until you get the details,” he said.

In the Ellsworth area, RSU 24 has yet to decide whether to commit its six participating schools. “We had a number of questions which have not been answered,” said Superintendent Bill Webster.

Maine Department of Education officials say the departure of a key staff member this summer left the department without a point person to coordinate the grant and communicate with participants.

And there’s no rush yet to implement the project, they say.

“This is largely an organizational year,” said the department’s spokesman David Connerty-Marin said. “There’s not an immediate need to get going on any particular aspect.”

Connerty-Marin said this week that calls to participating schools are starting in advance of next week’s meeting. “We wanted to make sure we had everything in order before we started making calls,” he said.

Davis, of the national board, said it’s understandable that school districts might not be ready to commit. “I would not be surprised if some schools are saying, ‘We want to know more,’” she said.

In Dover-Foxcroft, Superintendent Alan Smith said he sent an e-mail to the state education department months ago indicating interest in the project. But he has since decided against signing the participation document.

“It is a professional development incentive program for staff, but it doesn’t have a whole lot of clarity as to where this is going,” Smith said. “I think it has merit. It just has to have some real clarity, and I don’t think it’s there yet.”

Although Smith didn’t sign the participation agreement, Dover-Foxcroft’s SeDoMoCha School was listed as a grant participant when the award was announced.

Connerty-Marin said it’s unclear how that happened.

Davis said the national board didn’t have direct contact with the participating schools, but the group is working to recruit a substitute school to take SeDoMoCha’s place.

The amount of grant funding won’t be reduced, she said, if fewer Maine schools ultimately participate.

Davis said some confusion can be attributed to a compressed time frame. Federal guidelines didn’t come out until late May, weeks before the start of summer vacation, she said. That left applicants little time to arrange the details of their grant applications and line up participants.

“I think it came down to bad timing,” Davis said. “We’ve considered at the national board how we would do it differently in the future.”

The initial confusion related to the $27.1 million pilot project shouldn’t have any effect on its success, Davis said. The project won’t go into full effect in schools until next September.

“Up until then, you have a chance to get everything lined up and your ducks in a row,” Davis said.