American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Funding and Implementation for School Districts

1. American Recovery & Reinvestment Act(ARRA)Funding and Implementation for School Districts Webinar for Federal Relations Network March 5, 2009www.nsba.org

2. Agenda • Overview • NSBA Grassroots Advocacy Program • Economic Stimulus: Funding for K-12 Education Programs • Projected Timeline • Preliminary Details for Implementation • Questions for U.S. Department of Education • NSBA Economic Stimulus Resource Center • Updates on Total Funding Levels for FY09 and Specific Allocations • Q&A

3. American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) • Enacted on February 17, 2009 • Provides more than $100 billion for education programs • Economic stimulus is largely a two-year program for FY2009-2010 • Key goals of job retention, job creation, targeted investments in education for short- and long-term recovery

4. ARRA Goals • Preventing teacher layoffs and education cuts • A recent study by the University of Washington found that states are likely to cut nearly 15 percent of their education spending over the next three years, which could eliminate 574,000 education jobs. • The ARRA will help prevent cuts to education by providing $53.6 billion to states and school districts to prevent layoffs and cuts in critical education services and $25 billion in support for educating at risk students and those with special needs. • www.whitehouse.gov

5. NSBA Advocacy Efforts • More than 3,000 e-mail contacts were made to Capitol Hill in addition to contacts made via phone calls, faxes and visits. • Survey results from associations about state fiscal conditions helped influence support on Capitol Hill. • NSBA’s school construction surveygenerated over 1,500 responses that helped solidify ARRA provisions for school construction and modernization bond programs.

6. NSBA Advocacy Efforts • NSBA met with the President’s Transition Team six times to discuss the components of the economic stimulus package. • 1,000 school board members and state leaders attended the Federal Relations Network Conference (FRN) several days before the legislation was being renegotiated in the Senate, and voiced support for schools on Capitol Hill.

7. Program Allocations • Title I Grants: $13 billion • IDEA/Special Education: $12.2 billion • State Fiscal Stabilization Fund: $53.6 billion • Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT): $650 million • Statewide Data Systems: $250 million • Impact Aid (school construction) = $100 million • Homeless Assistance Grants= $70 million • Qualified School Construction Bonds: $22 billion • Qualified Zone Academy Bonds: $2.8 billion

8. Timeline • “Our goal is to get half of the money to the states within 40 days and the second half within six months, conditioned upon receipt of a comprehensive reform plan.” – Feb. 19

9. How Will Districts Use $$ • Sustain jobs • Address budget shortfalls • Implement further innovations for student achievement • Provide additional support for targeted intervention for at-risk students • “Green School” renovations & new construction • Summer writing programs for Title I students

10. Maintenance of Effort • Maintenance of Effort (MoE) requires that a school district’s education expenditures for the prior year must be at least 90 percent of previous year amounts. • Secretary of Education may waive MoE requirement if there are circumstances such as a “precipitous decline in fiscal resources.” • Federal funds may not count toward MoE, except for state stabilization funds.

11. Supplement not Supplant • IDEA -- School districts can reduce amount of local funds for special education by 50 percent of any increase in federal funds; local funds can be spent for any purpose under ESEA. • Title I – States and school districts shall use federal funding to supplement state and local funding for students educated under Title I.

12. What are the supplement/not supplant requirements for IDEA and Title I/NCLB? Existing requirements under IDEA and NCLB will apply for the supplement/not supplant requirements that school districts must meet currently under NCLB and IDEA.  

13. What are the Maintenance of Effort (MoE) requirements? • In order to receive grants from the State Stabilization Fund, states must agree to maintain their respective funding for education at FY2006 levels or greater.  The primary purpose of the fund is to stabilize education funding and prevent cuts from  current fiscal year funding levels.  FY2006 is a threshold. 

14. What if a governor does not accept a portion of funding from the economic stimulus? • (b) ACCEPTANCE BY STATE LEGISLATURE.—If funds provided toany State in any division of this Act are not accepted for use by theGovernor, then acceptance by the State legislature, by means of theadoption of a concurrent resolution, shall be sufficient to providefunding to such State. • Title XVI, Section 1607 (b), Public Law No: 111-5 American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA)

15. Recommendations • Work with your state association to provide information to both your SEA and Governor’s office (e.g. district’s per pupil expenditure; losses or projected losses in local property tax revenues; budget impact data re: any projected lay-offs and/or cuts in services; priorities that are already underway or being planned for data systems, teacher quality, assessments, school modernization needs, etc.).

16. Recommendations • Work with state associations to convene regular meetings with your SEA and Governor’s office regarding implementation efforts. • If you have identified potential red flags and concerns about how your state will administer the funds, raise such questions/concerns with your SEA, Governor, state legislature, and members of Congress.   • Advocate for greater disclosure about the process, related timelines, decisions, etc. • Please forward this information to us so that NSBA can help identify common themes and issues that could be affecting a number of districts among states and help address them.