CONTENTS

October 15, 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.

States to ED: Stabilization Funds Used Correctly

On October 12th, Education Week editor Catherine Gewertz reported that Connecticut and Massachusetts are defending their use of federal education Stimulus funds to avert or minimize cuts to their state education budgets. According to Gewertz, a September 30th memo from the U.S. Department of Education’s inspector general criticized some states for undermining the school improvement aims of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) by using State Fiscal Stabilization Funds to plug budget holes rather than to drive real education reform in schools.

On October 9th, New Hampshire’s Commissioner of Education Virginia Barry, released memos from the Bureau of Special Education explaining the ARRA Reporting and Reimbursement System, and the Reporting and Reimbursement Processes and Procedures.

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