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Governor Edward G. Rendell today said the commonwealth has applied for $108 million in federal funds to expand high-speed Internet service to people, institutions and communities throughout Pennsylvania -- an investment that will boost the state's economic development and education systems for years to come.

NASBE Webinar

This is an analysis of economic stimulus funding for education, provided by the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA). Federal stimulus dollars have begun flowing to the state. But LEAs are still a few weeks away from getting them in their hands. LEAs will begin receiving these funds in May. There are three primary one-time funding sources in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA): Title I, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF).

North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue today announced that MCNC has applied to receive $28.1 million in broadband recovery funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to support fiber acquisition for the North Carolina Research and Education Network (NCREN) in North Carolina.

Two key Democrats in Congress have expressed skepticism about the Obama administration's proposal to shift $1 billion out of Title I grants for districts into the separate Title I school improvement program in the fiscal 2010 federal budget. In its fiscal 2010 budget proposal, the administration justified the change by pointing to a $10 billion increase that the Title I grant program for districts received in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the stimulus measure that passed in February and that includes up to $100 billion for education,

As school leaders prepare to spend billions of dollars in federal stimulus money, the American Library Association (ALA) is lobbying to have some of those dollars used to keep school libraries up to date during hard economic times.

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan is offering federal cash incentives to achieve one of his top priorities: developing national standards for reading and math to replace a current hodgepodge of benchmarks in the states. Duncan said June 14 that the efforts of 46 states to develop common, internationally measured standards for student achievement would be bolstered by up to $350 million in federal funds to help them develop tests to assess those standards.

Well before the idea of using data to manage schools gained prominence on the national stage, Oklahoma's Western Heights school district had made the ideal of real-time, data-driven decisionmaking a reality. Back in 2001, Superintendent Joe Kitchens was already being spotlighted for his focus on creating a longitudinal-data system that would give teachers in the 3,400-student district the ability to make quick decisions to improve student learning, while reducing the time spent compiling reports.

Robert Linquanti, Director for English Learner Evaluation and Accountability Support in WestEd's Comprehensive School Assistance Program, moderated a webinar panel on May 26th comprising select members of the English Language Learner (ELL) Working Group. This Working Group recently issued recommendations for using ARRA funds wisely to meet the needs of our nation's English learners.

Two key Democrats in Congress have expressed skepticism about the Obama administration's proposal to shift $1 billion out of Title I grants for districts into the separate Title I school improvement program in the fiscal 2010 federal budget.

Detailed Description of Appropriate and Inappropriate use of SFSF Funds. INAPPROPRIATE USES INCLUDE: * Payment of maintenance costs;\n * Stadiums or other facilities primarily used for athletic events or other events which charge for admission;\n * Purchase or upgrade of vehicles;\n * Improvement of stand-alone facilities whose purpose is not to educate students such as central office administration or operations or logistical support facilities; or\n * Financial assistance to students to attend private schools, unless the funds are used to provide special education and related services as authorized by IDEA.

The top education official in the Obama administration says that federal stimulus dollars for school districts are meant to be spent over two years, which aligns with the position of L.A. school officials in their ongoing political war with employee unions over looming layoffs. The comment by Education Secretary Arne Duncan is significant because unions have been campaigning for district officials to spend as much of the stimulus money as needed to save jobs now. District officials have countered that employees must agree to conditional salary concessions if all jobs are to be saved. District officials have argued that federal stimulus money should be split over two years, in large measure because both years are likely to prove economically dire.

School districts, county offices of education, direct funded charter schools will receive SFSF funding to offset reductions to state general purpose and categorical program funding reduced pursuant to Senate Bill 4 (Chapter 12, Statutes 2009-10, Third Extraordinary Session). This search engine allows counties and districts in California to see their estimated allocation for 2009.

In March, the State Legislature approved a pilot program that seemed tailor made for her situation. Called Traders to Teachers, it is designed to turn unemployed finance professionals into math teachers in three months. Successful candidates, who are not required to have been math majors, will attend classes free at Montclair State University.

he passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 has provided unprecedented levels of federal funding for education, and it has prompted most grant writers across the country (from all disciplines, not just education) to prepare themselves for a deluge of funding announcements--many of which will require quick turnaround times for proposals.

Shovel-ready projects - or not?

Concrete ideas from the Center for American Progress for strategic spending in three key areas-taking stock of current practices, focusing on support for quality instruction, and making transitional investments-in order to give some guidance to those districts seeking to balance the act's short-term focus on preserving jobs with its long-term goals of promoting student achievement.

President's 2010 budget plan would REDUCE EDTECH FUNDING by 63 percent--after $650 million in ed-tech stimulus funds. Funding for EETT has declined fairly consistently over the years, from $696 million in 2004 down to its current level of $267.5 million in FY 2008. In 2009, it was up slightly to $269.9. And then, in the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA, also known as the "stimulus package"), it received an infusion of $650 million on top of existing funding. It seemed, then, that EETT would be fairly safe under the Obama administration's patronage. So it has come as a surprise to some to see the proposed reduction to EETT in the $47.6 billion education budget proposal, released publicly Thursday.