Snapping Shoals EMC awarded Newton County Schools nearly $15,000 as part of the co-op's new Bright Ideas grant program Monday.

The funds, allocated from unclaimed capital credits, will be used to fund numerous projects submitted by teachers throughout the school system.

 In order to qualify for a Bright Ideas grant, teachers were required to submit a proposal outlining their project idea.

 The winners, chosen by the school system, are Linda Allemani, Artie Brunson, Andria Bunner, Katie Burnd, Brad Fowler, Karen Greene, Donna Harris, Sue Kernan, Adam Phyall, Al Sadler, Kerry Stevens, Terry Oliveri and Amanda Restivo.

 Bright Ideas grants are designed to help teachers who wish to extend educational opportunities and activities for students by developing student interests and abilities

 Among the winning projects are "Visual Literacy" at East Newton Elementary, "Physical Science in the 21st Century" at Eastside High School and "Putting Math in Motion" at Ficquett Elementary.

 As a non-profit organization SSEMC's capital credits, or margins, are revenues required by lending institutions more than the cost of providing electric service. These are routinely refunded to the co-op's members

This year, a total of $4.8 million has been returned to Snapping Shoals EMC current and former members.

Legislation passed in 2005 allows EMCs to utilize unclaimed capital credits, which were previously given to the state, for supporting local education.