Every Thursday, REL-NEI highlights state-based resources, press releases, and news around the Northeast and Islands Region related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). For a listing of REL Issues & Answers Reports categorized under ARRA topics and domains, click here.
CT to Apply for $150M from Race to the Top Fund
On November 12th, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan released the final application for more than $4 billion from the Race to the Top Fund, which will reward states that have raised student performance in the past and have the capacity to accelerate achievement gains with innovative reforms. For more information, check out the Department of Education’s (ED) website.
On November 10th, the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) issued a news release announcing its intention to apply for $150 million from the highly competitive federal $4 billion Race to the Top Fund announced by President Obama earlier this year. CSDE has been working since August to respond to the requirements of the grant program and has assembled a team of educators and business leaders to help fashion Connecticut’s proposal for reform. View a PDF that details the selection criteria and application process for the Race To The Top funds.
On November 10th, a federal report was released that examines New York’s internal system of control over stimulus funds. New York needs to improve the way it monitors how districts and others spend their stimulus dollars, reported the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General.
Journalists Stephen Sawchuk and Michele McNeil of Education Week have been covering the issues raised by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. On November 16th, McNeil discussed how state-level reform, local buy-in, and teacher quality will count heavily in determining which states get the federal Race to the Top grants. That same day, Sawchuk discussed how ED may require districts to report school pay data. The goal of the plan would be to discover how salary spending differs between schools receiving Title I funds and those that do not.
For more information, visit these ARRA-related websites across the Northeast and Islands Region:
U.S. Department of Education
http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/leg/recovery/index.html
State Recovery Sites
http://www.recovery.gov/?q=content/state-local-tribal-and-territorial-resources
State Education Agency Recovery Sites
Education Week’s “Schools and the Stimulus”
http://www.edweek.org/ew/collections/schools-stimulus/index.html
