For the following programs, funds will be made available beginning in fall 2009, and will be conditioned upon receipt of further information that will be outlined in future guidance:
Title I School Improvement Grants ($3 billion).
Educational Technology State Grants ($650 million).
The following funds will be made available beginning in fall 2009, based on the quality of the applications submitted through a competitive grant process. Guidelines for these funds will be posted shortly:
Teacher Incentive Fund ($200 million).
Teacher Quality Enhancement ($100 million).
Statewide Data Systems ($250 million).
Jeff Johnson on 09 Jul 08I've been getting this question a lot lately from administrators, parents, and taxpayers. The question isn't malicious, but rather comes from folks with a vested interest in making sure that our technology dollars directly benefit students. Does giving teachers laptops directly benefit students? For people who aren't actively teaching in a classroom, that's a hard question to answer.\n\nI don't think it's very hard for teachers to answer the question, though, especially at the secondary level. For most people entering the business world, there is no question that they will have a computer on their desk when they are hired. It might be a laptop, a desktop, a shared desktop facilitated with some sort of flextime arrangement, or even a computer allowance so that the new hire can buy a machine that makes them the most productive. However, it's not terribly likely that they'll just be handed a dry erase marker and a whiteboard, pointed towards a copy machine, and told to go for it.
