eSchool News | stimulus funding page 1

With divided Congress, school reform faces a tough road ahead

divideshutterresized — Duncan said the Republican election victories wouldn't derail the administration's plans.

The Obama administration has pushed an ambitious education agenda in the last two years, sending $100 billion to states thorough the stimulus package and spurring reform in many locations through the Race to the Top competition.

But none of the major initiatives pushed by President Barack Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan have been bipartisan. Most were approved through large spending bills that Republicans opposed.

Politicians and experts say the big Republican gains in Congress will serve as a roadblock to further Democrat-led education reform efforts, including a likely decrease in big-ticket spending as the GOP seeks greater fiscal restraint.…Read More

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Republicans decry stimulus funds for student iPods

A million-dollar purchase of iPods for high school students in Utah is among the many uses of federal stimulus money cited in a 74-page report put out by a pair of Republican senators who contend the $862 billion program is fraught with needless spending, reports the Los Angeles Times. “There is no question job creation should be a national priority, but torrential, misdirected government spending is not the way to do it,” reads the introduction, signed by Republican Sens. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and John McCain of Arizona. The report is the third in a series that Republicans have written, spotlighting what they say is a dubious use of stimulus money. “We’ll look into each of their claims and take action if any have merit, but with more than 70,000 Recovery Act projects underway, any misguided project is just a small fraction of tens of thousands coast to coast that are rebuilding America and putting people to work,” said Elizabeth Oxhorn, a White House spokeswoman. The report questions a decision to spend $1 million on iPod Touch devices for 1,600 students at Kearns High School in Kearns, Utah. The school will load the iPods with educational applications that teachers hope will motivate students. Students will get to keep the devices if they meet graduation requirements, a school district spokesman said. A White House official defended the iPod program, saying, “This program is actually an example of a school using cutting-edge technology to enhance learning, while providing cost-effective internet access to students for research.”

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Five ways to make smart ed-tech investments

School leaders are looking for strategic ways to get the most out of their investments.

As you consider how to spend your remaining stimulus money—and whatever other funds you might have available this year—keep in mind that the money might represent the last best chance you’ll have to make a one-time investment that can have a long-term impact on your schools.…Read More

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Where to find more money this year

Schools have more than $15 billion in formula-based stimulus funding left to be spent.

Although the state budget outlook appears grim for 2010-11, there are a few possible sources of federal money that can help.

One is the remains of the stimulus package. Even though this windfall is running out, there was at least $15 billion in formula-based money left to be spent on education as of press time, according to the U.S. Department of Education (ED). Schools have until Sept. 30, 2011, to spend the rest of the money—and by making smart, one-time investments with the potential to have a lasting impact, schools with unspent funds could use this money to help them ride out the recession.

ED must obligate the remaining stimulus funds by Sept. 30, 2010—including awards for Race to the Top (RTTT), Investing in Innovation (I3), and phase two of the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF), said a department spokesman.…Read More

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Troubled urban school is turned around, but cost gives pause

Locke High School in Los Angeles has seen significant progress since it was taken over by a charter school group in 2008, but the gains have come at a considerable cost, reports the New York Times. As recently as 2008, Locke High School was one of the nation’s worst failing schools and drew national attention for its hallway beatings, bathroom rapes, and rooftop parties held by gangs. For every student who graduated, four others dropped out. Now, two years after a charter school group took over, gang violence is sharply down, fewer students are dropping out, and test scores have inched upward. Newly planted olive trees in Locke’s central plaza have helped transform the school’s concrete quadrangle into a place where students congregate and do homework. Locke High represents both the opportunities and challenges of the Obama administration’s $3.5 billion effort, financed largely by the economic stimulus bill, to overhaul thousands of the nation’s failing schools. The school has become a mecca for reformers, partly because the Education Department (ED) web site hails it as an exemplary turnaround effort. But progress is coming at considerable cost: an estimated $15 million over the planned four-year turnaround, largely financed by private foundations. That is more than twice the $6 million in federal turnaround money that ED has set as a cap for any single school. Skeptics say the Locke experience might be too costly to replicate…

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Universities play role in broadband expansion

A New Mexico broadband initiative will give broadband access to 3,000 homes and 1,000 businesses.

Colleges and universities will help bring broadband internet to underserved schools, businesses, and neighborhoods after Vice President Joe Biden announced the first round of federal stimulus funds to expand high-speed web access on Dec. 17.

Eighteen projects nationwide, funded by $182 million in stimulus dollars, will build long-awaited fiber-optic networks in rural areas not served by high-bandwidth web connections in larger nearby cities.

The University of Maine is among the campuses involved in the broadband expansion program. Maine will partner with Biddleford Internet Corp.—along with several other companies—to build three fiber optic rings across 1,100 miles of rural area with $25.4 million in funding.…Read More

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