District Administration - October 2009 - (Page 18)

Br iefings Stimulus Monitor A pAnel of AdministRAtoRs, industry representatives and education policy analysts met with officials from the federal communications commission in Washington, d.c., in August to discuss the national Broadband plan, and among other recommendations urged the commission to increase funding for the e-rate program. The annual budget for e-rate, the 1996 federal initiative that provides funding to schools toward the cost of installing internet connections, has remained unchanged at $2.25 billion for over a decade. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) charged the fcc, led by newly appointed chairman Julius genachowski, with creating a national broadband plan by february 17, 2010, that “shall seek to ensure that all people of the united states have access to broadband capability and shall establish benchmarks for meeting that goal.” to that end, the by Don Parker-burgard FCC Urged to Increase E-rate Funding in National Broadband Plan “e-rate has had a substantial impact on delivering broadband to schools. … it should have a major role in the forthcoming broadband plan,” she testified, adding that “changes need to be made” and recommending raising the budget to $4 billion. panelist tom greaves of education consulting firm the greaves group agreed, characterizing the current state of school broadband access as “a crisis” and recommending a budget increase to “$6 billion or even $8 billion.” The panel is not alone in its assessment. A march report by the government Accountability office found that requests for e-rate funding from 1998 to 2007 “consistently exceed[ed] the cap” and that applicants requested a total of $41 billion—174 percent of the $23.4 billion in funding available during the decade. to follow the development of the fcc’s national Broadband plan, go to www.broadband.gov. —Kurt O.E. Dyrli The stimulus bill charges newly appointed FCC chairman Julius Genachowski with creating a national broadband plan by February 2010. fcc has held dozens of workshops in six content areas to discuss broadband adoption with experts in each field. The August education workshop panel included sheryl Abshire, chief technology officer of the calcasieu parish (la.) school system, who also represented the consortium for school networking (cosn). $3.5 Billion in Title 1 Grants on the Way Although stAte educAtion officiAls hAve been focused recently on the Race to the top fund, they are also looking at another pool of money scheduled to come their way in early 2010: $3.5 billion in title 1 school improvement grants. These grants, funded by a fY2009 appropriation of $546 million and an additional $3 billion from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), will be disbursed to states in proportion to their title 1 eligibility. school districts will then apply to their respective states for subgrants. speaking about the grants in late August, education secretary Arne duncan said, “if we are to put an end to stubborn cycles of poverty and social failure, and put our country on track for long-term economic prosperity, we must address the needs of children who have long been ignored and marginalized in chronically low-achieving schools.” under the proposed rules, each district receiving funding would need to demonstrate its commitment to raising student achievement by employing one of four interventions in each of its qualifying low-performing schools. 18 October 2009 • Turnaround. The principal and at least 50 percent of the staff would be replaced, and changes would be made to the governance structure and the instructional program. • Restart. The school would close and reopen under the management of an educational or charter management organization. • Closure. The school would close, and students would be assigned to other schools in the district. • Transformation. The district would initiate a sweeping change in the school that would include replacing the principal, extending learning time for students and planning time for teachers, and providing sustained support. in order to ensure that districts carefully match schools with appropriate intervention methods, any district with nine or more qualifying schools would not be permitted to use any one method in more than half of its schools. District Administration http://www.broadband.gov

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - October 2009

District Administration - October 2009
Contents
From the Editor
News Update
Security
College Prep
Stimulus Monitor
Administrator Profile
Professional Opinion
Crisis Response
Tech Disruptions
Digital Classrooms Take Flight
Measuring Success in Harrisburg
Reaching Graduation with Credit Recovery
Almost There?
Back to School for Retired Baby Boomers
Problem Solution
New Products
Product Focus
How Well Does This Web Site Work?
Understanding the Times

District Administration - October 2009