Articles Tagged with ARRA

1185310_us_cavalryFederal ARRA stimulus funding has been keeping schools around the country on life support for the past year. Despite significant layoffs around the country it headed off catastrophe in many states. That era is coming to an end later this year or early next year.

It was heartening to see Secretary Duncan take up the cause in a statement issued today. Unless Congress acts and provides a second round the deteriorating tax climate at the state and local level is going to cause massive disruption to the education system in 2011 and beyond.

“We are gravely concerned that the kind of state and local budget threats our schools face today will put our hard-earned reforms at risk,” he stated. “Every day brings reports of layoffs, program cuts, class time reductions, and class size increases.”

Fight Apathy or don'tWhile we hash out what ARRA Stimulus funds mean for education there are larger issues at play in how we allocate public spending on children.

The New York Times has a good piece today that links to several good resources on this topic.

In a nutshell – 2.2% of GDP declining to 1.9% by 2019.

NFImageImportAt PCI we are putting the finishing touches on our 2010 budget. The Stimulus funds are creating a particular challenge as we look out over the next 12-24 months. On the one hand there should be plenty of new money in the market next year. On the other, despite ARRA an additional 9 states are sliding into California like crises as the housing slump begins to affect tax receipts.

There are two core questions companies need to answer as they think about priorities for the coming year.

  • Timing – when will the funds flow?
  • Volume – how much of the stimulus will be available for instructional materials?

1. When will stimulus dollars flow for instructional materials?

Doug Stein of Memespark has some commentary to share on ARRA and innovation.

By Guest Blogger Doug Stein

s-HUMAN-WHEEL-largeI don’t know if you saw this article. It details how one district is spending the ARRA education stimulus money: