Summary of conference call with Janelle Leonard (USDOE) March 13th

- Guidance document for IID stimulus funding not available yet,
- IID (stimulus) funds to be awarded in fall…not sure if 9/1 or 10/1,
- DOE’s priority for IID is to get out regular funding July 1 (this requirement is statutory),
- Current focus for DOE is stabilization and Title 1 funds…target for distribution is March 25th…but since DOE is still calculating, the March 25th date may not be met,
- DOE has met with Mike Smith (White House)…he is to lead discussions about IID…both guidance for spending and timeline…these discussions have not begun,
- The IID stimulus money and the regular IID $ must be distributed separately and handled as two separate grants; DOE is determining as to whether or not to allow for one application with separate accounting and separate evaluations,
- The stimulus funds will have more stringent evaluation requirements than the regular funds,
- Stimulus IID money will have 5% administrative set-aside (40% of which remains for evaluation),
- New conditions are coming from OMB, DOE and from stimulus package…primarily on reporting requirements, + what you can and cannot do with the money, a must “buy American” clause…all of these conditions are currently in the office of the General Council and are being assessed,
- Regular IID funds will increase from $267M to $269M nationally...estimates for funding are available on the ed.gov website [no change to regular funds…5% admin…total balance may be used for competitive]
Additional comments…

SETDA has begun meeting with NAEP to develop technological literacy assessment which is due out in 2010

President Obama signed HR 1005 this morning!

The Senate approved HR 1005 – the Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009 which included EETT at $269 million. The bill was signed by the President this morning.
Many different iterations for the timing and process of the EETT Stimulus Funding have been reported in the last few weeks. SETDA believes (thanks to Steve Sanders from WI) that we have the latest information available in terms of when this funding will be made available to states. The “fall 2009” that many of you have inquired about seems to have been replaced with 50% in June/July and 50% in September/Oct. For more detailed information please see the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Timing Spreadsheet

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Check out the hints for use on iCONN's blog including the new video.