CONTENTS

November 26, 2009

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.

Maine Governor Baldacci and Race to the Top

On November 23rd, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education announced that it is conducting a survey to support the development of the state’s Race to the Top grant proposal are gathering input from education stakeholders throughout the state. The survey is meant to help the department understand what Massachusetts residents see as the most important projects the state should include in its Race to the Top proposal. Anyone can fill out the survey, which should take approximately 15 minutes and must be completed by December 1st. Link to the survey here.

On November 19th, Governor John Baldacci announced that Maine would apply to the U.S. Department of Education for Race to the Top funds during the second phase of the application process next spring. More than $4 billion are available from the fund as innovation grants to states as a way to raise student achievement. Maine could be eligible for $20 million to $75 million in funds from the competitive program, but will have to make some changes that need legislative approval to be successful in the grant application, according to Baldacci. The Administration will work with the Legislature to improve education policies in areas such as:

Linking student growth and achievement data with teachers and principals as one of the factors in evaluating teacher and principal performance;
Establishing new protocols for improving the state’s persistently lowest performing schools; and
Providing flexibility to innovative public schools similar to the kind of flexibility found in charter school legislation (but that would not enable charter schools) to encourage education reforms.

Over the last several weeks, Connecticut has enhanced its mapping tool to better report stimulus activities in communities across the state.

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

Connecticut: http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/cwp/view.asp?a=2703&Q=322296
Maine: http://www.maine.gov/education/recovery/index.html
Massachusetts: http://www.doe.mass.edu/arra/
New Hampshire: http://www.ed.state.nh.us/education/recovery/index.htm
New York: http://uspeny.nysed.gov/arra/
Rhode Island: http://www.ride.ri.gov/Finance/Funding/ARRA/
Vermont: http://education.vermont.gov/new/html/dept/recovery_act.html
Puerto Rico: http://www.buengobiernopr.com/arra/index.html
U.S. Virgin Islands: http://www.governordejongh.com/recovery/index.html

Education Week’s “Schools and the Stimulus”

http://www.edweek.org/ew/collections/schools-stimulus/index.html