ARRA in your District

What are the goals of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and how will it help schools?

ARRA funds in education are designed both to provide immediate economic stimulus and to improve the nation's long-term economic growth through the development of our major future resource—our children. Accomplishing this second objective will also contribute to the nation's longer-term health by building the human capital necessary for continued economic growth and democratic participation.
ARRA provides approximately $100 billion for education, creating a historic opportunity to save hundreds of thousands of jobs, support states and school districts, and advance reforms and improvements that will create long-lasting results for our students and our nation.

How will ARRA funds be distributed?

Some funds will be distributed to states in stages on a formula basis and then distributed from states to local education agencies (LEAs) or institutions of higher education (IHEs) for use over the next two school years (2009-10 and 2010-11); some funds will be distributed all at once; some funds will be distributed through a competitive grant process.
The funds under the SFSF, Title I, Part A, and IDEA, Part B will be available in two stages and delivered by formula from the Department to the states. The Department will release 50 percent of Title I, Part A and 50 percent of IDEA, Part B funds before the end of March 2009, without requiring new state applications.
Applications for the initial 67 percent of the SFSF will be available to governors by the end of March, and funds will be made available by the Department within two weeks after receipt of an approvable application. For these three categories of funds, the remainder of the funds are expected to be available during the period July 1 to Sept. 30, 2009, dependent on states providing additional information.

How is the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act helping my state?

Download preliminary American Recovery and Reinvestment Act State Allocation Tables for the U.S. Department of Education here.

How is the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act helping my district?

Download Funding Allocation per School District at the US Department of Education Website

Why ELLS?

Funding for education in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) has two primary objectives: 1) to help stimulate national economic recovery by providing jobs and building infrastructure in the state and local educational systems, and 2) to improve educational outcomes for children, particularly those most in need.

ELLs are a very large, rapidly growing, and currently under-served population who stand to benefit greatly from the attention and resources provided by ARRA (The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: Recommendations for Addressing the Needs of English Language Learners, Diane August (Center for Applied Linguistics), Kenji Hakuta (Stanford University), Jennifer O'Day (American Institutes for Research)).

Seven main reasons support this statement:

1) Rapid growth in ELL populations

2) Inadequate attention to the unique needs and resources ELL students bring to school

3) Substantial and continuing achievement gap between ELL and non ELL students

4) Inadequate progress in Title I

5) Disproportionate representation of ELL students in special education and a need for better tracking of progress

6) Need for robust research to strengthen practice

7) Negative consequences for failing to address these students' needs

Why Santillana USA?

The success of the education part of the ARRA will depend on the shared commitment and responsibility of students, parents, teachers, and all educational stakeholders.

As your partners in education, we continue to focus on helping all students, but especially at-risk, migrant, immigrant, and ELL students, by providing effective, innovative instructional programs and professional development services that match many of the recommendations recently made by the nationally recognized ELL Working Group, including:

• Targeting "both the English language proficiency and academic content needs of ELLs"
• Support to improve assessment and accountability monitoring
• Native language support

Additionally, Santillana materials and professional development offerings

• Align with challenging state academic standards
• Help close the achievement gap between high and low performing students
• Are based on research and established best-practices

What are the guidelines for using these funds?

Four principles guide the distribution and use of ARRA funds:

Spend funds quickly to save and create jobs.

States and LEAs are urged to move rapidly to develop plans for using funds, consistent with the law's reporting and accountability requirements, and to promptly begin spending funds to help drive the nation's economic recovery.

Improve student achievement through school improvement and reform.

ARRA funds should be used to improve student achievement. In addition, the SFSF provides funds to close the achievement gap, help students from all backgrounds achieve high standards, and address four specific areas that are authorized under bipartisan education legislation - including the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and the America Competes Act of 2007.

Ensure transparency, reporting and accountability.

Due to the unprecedented scope and importance of this investment, ARRA funds are subject to additional and more rigorous reporting requirements than normally apply to grant recipients.

Invest one-time ARRA funds thoughtfully to minimize the "funding cliff."

Depending on the program, these funds are available for only two to three years. The funds should be invested in ways that do not result in unsustainable continuing commitments after the funding expires.

What are the requirements for the states?

Specifically, the law requires states to show progress towards the following Assurances:

• Improvement in teacher effectiveness and commitments that all schools have highly qualified teachers;
• Progress toward college and career-ready standards and rigorous assessments that will improve both teaching and learning;
• Improvement in achievement in low-performing schools, by providing intensive support and effective interventions in those schools.
• Progress to improve student learning, teacher performance, and college- and career-readiness through enhanced data systems that track progress.