Looks like the lights are staying on...

As you may have heard or read, The CT Legislature has reached agreement on a budget, which the Governor now has 5 days to approve or not. In the budget, there is full funding to keep the CEN on and happy :-), providing Internet and support to each of the schools, colleges, and libraries in the network. Also in the budget is funding that is necessary to keep iCONN databases available to all CEN connected sites.

It's not yet a done deal, but things look better than they have for several months, so I remain optomistic that we ed-techies will be OK during these difficult fiscal times.

Update: Computer Assisted Writing Grant

The calls and emails keep coming in... so here's an update on the Computer Assisted Writing Grant:

The final review and scoring for this last round of Computer Assisted Writing Grants will be held on September 9th. After the final scores are in, there is a minimum of about 10 days of beurocracy before the winning projects can be announced.

The moment that I have the list of approved grantees, letters of award or denial will be mailed to superintendents who applied, and I will post the list of districts who will receive the grants on this blog. I expect that to happen in late September. At that time, grantees may begin immediately implementing their projects.

Help! Restore EETT Funding!

SETDA (the State Educational Technology Directors Association) has asked those states who have a Representative and/or Senator on the House Committee on Appropriations, Education Subcommittee or Senate Appropriations, Education Subcommittee to reach out and let them know how important it is that the FY10 Appropriations for EETT, which was included at only $100 million in the President’s budget, be included at a minimum at the level funding level of $269 million. Please be sure to provide one key example from your district of how EETT has been a catalyst for improvement. Please call the offices of your member(s) below and ask specifically for the Education Appropriations staffer. Time is, as usual, of the essence, so please call by Friday if possible. You can access all phone numbers at http://www.senate.gov/ or http://www.house.gov. If you have a contact in those offices other than the Education Appropriations staffer, please contact him/her, as well.

FYI - Rosa DeLauro is on the Committee on Appropriations, Education Subcommittee.

New Computer Assisted Writing Grant Posted!

It's finally here - RFP 977 (Local Competitive Grant for Computer Assisted Writing) has been posted to the SDE site! You'll find it under Request for Proposals in the right navigation bar, under Curriculum and Instruction. Here's the direct link to the RFP.

Note that only "high needs" districts are eligible to apply. The list of eligible districts can be found on page 21 of the RFP. Proposals are due on July 30, 2009.

Because of the timing of this RFP's release, there will be no bidders conference. Anyone with questions should contact me directly at karen.kaplan@ct.gov or 860.713.6781.

Good luck!