Heartland to Receive Federal Stimulus Monies

As most of you know, President Obama recently signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). The ARRA provides approximately $100 billion for education, creating an historic opportunity to create long‐lasting results for our students and our nation including early learning, K‐12 and post‐secondary education. As of this date, we do not know the exact amount that will come to Heartland. These funds will be distributed based on a formula that the federal government will decide. This federal stimulus money, the rules and regulations for spending it, timelines and a few other details surrounding the money are all issues that will need to be received before we can commit to how the money will be used.

However, we were given four key principles that will drive the work.
1. Funds will need to be spent quickly to save and create jobs. This principle is key to jumpstarting our economy. This could be for projects and uses that are already in process.
2. All projects are required to have an impact on improving student achievement through school improvement and reform. These include acquiring or improving data systems to track progress, improving teacher effectiveness and supporting lower performing schools.
3. These one-time monies must be used to minimize the “funding cliff.” An example of this would be hiring additional staff or providing salary increases that would not be sustainable without these funds.
4. Transparency will be a key component of every project. All projects will be publicly reported.

There will also be two other types of monies available.
1. The first is the availability of money from the Secretary of Education for competitive grants to further support reforms that drastically improve education quality.
2. The second is funds that will be distributed quickly to state Departments of Education for distribution.

Last Thursday, SACII (Staff Advisory Council) was asked for ideas for projects. There was an excellent discussion and some good ideas were generated for consideration. Minutes of this meeting will be available soon, located on the Workgroups Server under Meeting Minutes.

The Agency’s cabinet will be discussing ideas at their next meeting on March 23. There will also be ways for all staff to provide input on projects for consideration in the future. We will keep you informed as we receive more information.

For questions, please e-mail Maxine Kilcrease, Laura Gillon or Steve Prall.