Panama City - Fourteen Panhandle School Districts are getting additional help for their talented students. The Florida Department of Education is giving a $3.6 million grant to the panhandle area educational consortium, or PAEC, for technology studies.

The new grant will help fund improved science, technology, engineering and math, or stem, programs. PAEC is a consortium of 14-small rural school districts in the panhandle. The organization provides programs and pursues grants to support the member districts. This new STEM grant is a product of that mission.

"They'll be serving gifted students in the area of that panhandle. That includes acceleration courses, summer camps at university of Florida and individualized accelerated instruction," Mary Jane Tappen with the Department of Education said.

The program helps students prepare for science-based careers like medicine and engineering. The stem program helps identify the students, and introduce them to people with more knowledge in these fields.

"This type of grant enables us to do the types of things we can't usually do with lack of funding, and we're just very appreciative of this grant," PAEC Executive Director Pat McDaniel said.

Eligible students are recommended by teachers, score a four or five on the FCAT math and science tests and are identified by their school districts as gifted. PAEC members are still deciding how they will share the funding.