As of March 2, 2009
Title I Related
Title-I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) authorizes grants to be given to local education agencies (LEAs) in order to provide federal aid to students who attend pre-K-12 schools with a high percentage of low-income students.
In fiscal year 2008, Title I, Part A of the ESEA received $13.9 billion in federal funds. The ARRA will provide an additional $10 billion in FY 2009. Of this, half will be dispersed through the Targeted Grant formula and the other half will be dispersed using the Education Finance Incentive Grants (EFIG) formula. Therefore, LEAs with a poverty rate less than 5.0% will be ineligible to receive funds. The Each LEA receiving funds is required to report 2008-2009 school-by-school per-pupil expenditures to the state education authority (SEA) before December 1, 2009. These funds will be available to LEAs during the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 school years.
In FY 2008, Arizona received $274.8 million dollars from the federal government to fund Title I grants. The U.S. Department of Education (ED) estimates an additional $194.9 million from the ARRA in FY 2009. The House Education and Labor Committee (HELC) predicts slightly less—$187.0 million.
In addition, the ARRA provides $3 billion in appropriations for Title I-A School Improvement Grants in FY 2009 to supplement the $491 million provided by the federal government in FY 2008. States apply for these grants and must use at least 95% of any received funds to make subgrants to LEAs in the amount of $50,000 to $500,000 per school. These subgrants must be available to schools for two years, provided the recipient schools meet improvement goals. States will be encouraged by the ED to use 40% of their grant money to provide subgrants to middle and high schools.
Title I-A School Improvement Grant funds will be allocated to the states in proportion to the amount of funds received under Parts A (Education for the Disadvantaged), C (Migrant Education Program), and D (Neglected and Delinquent Children and Youth) of ESEA, Title I. The House Education and Labor Committee (HELC) estimates that Arizona will be eligible to receive $59.3 million in additional funds from the ARRA.
ELL
The ARRA allows funds for ELL-related program efforts under Title I.
Educational Technology
The Ed Tech program provides grants to LEAs and SEAs in order to improve student achievement by increasing access to educational technology and enhancing technological literacy. This funding will be allocated to the states in proportion to Title I-A grants. Each state will receive a minimum amount of 0.5% the total amount of funding. States are required to allocate 95% of the money to LEA’s. Half of this is required to be allocated in proportion to Title I-A grants and the other half must be allocated competitively. In FY2008, the Ed Tech program received $267 million. The ARRA provides a supplemental appropriation of $650 million in FY 2009.
Arizona received $4.8 million in FY 2008 to support Ed Tech state grants. The ED estimates an additional $12.4 million from the ARRA in FY 2009. The HELC predicts only an $11.6 million increase.
STEM
Due to the amount of discretionary funding provided to the states, it is unclear how much funding will be available to STEM-specific programs. However, the ARRA will provide $100 million to the National Science Foundation’s math and science teacher-training and recruitment efforts. These funds will be allocated as follows:
- $60 million will be used to fund the Noyce Scholarship program. Noyce scholarships provide universities with grants to provide scholarships or stipends (in the amount of at least $10,000) to prospective science and math teachers.
- $25 million will be used to fund the NSF’s math and science partnership program. This program currently consists of 48 partnerships between universities, K-12 schools, and outside agencies. Partnership activities include after-school and summer enrichment programs, professional development for teachers and new teacher training programs located at the participating universities.
- $15 million provided to the NSF by the stimulus package will be used to support master’s degree programs for math and science teachers.
Teacher Production and Professional Development
Title II, Part A of the Higher Education Act (HEA) authorizes Teacher Quality Grants designed to improve teacher education programs, train prospective teachers and recruit future teachers. This grant program received $33.7 million from the federal government in FY 2008. The ARRA provides $100 million in supplemental FY2009 appropriations.
The ARRA also provides $200M for the Teacher Incentive Fund program. These funds must be used to provide competitive grants for the purpose of developing and implementing performance-based teacher and principal compensation systems in high-need schools.
In addition, it is likely that some of the approximately $12 million Arizona will receive to fund Ed Tech grants will be used to provide technological development to teachers and related staff. In addition, funds for professional development may be available through money allocated to Title I-related school improvement activities.
Early Childhood Education
The ARRA provides Arizona with a total of $29.7 million for the purpose of Early Childhood Education under the Head Start and Early Head Start programs. Head Start is a program created by the United States Department of Health and Human Services that provides comprehensive education, health, nutrition, and parent involvement services to low-income children and their families. Head Start is the longest-running program to address systemic poverty in the United States. The $29.7 million in stimulus funding will be available via grants that will be transferred directly to the local level. States will not have the option of supplanting current investment in the Head Start program.
Special Education
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) governs how states and public agencies provide early intervention, special education and related services to more than 6.5 million eligible infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities nation-wide.
Children and youth (ages 3-21) receive special education and related services under IDEA, Part B (Grants for States). Part B also establishes a state grant program for preschool children (Section 619). Infants and toddlers with disabilities (birth-2) and their families receive early intervention services under IDEA Part C. All three of these areas will receive funding from the ARRA.
In FY 2008, IDEA, Part B (Grants for States) received a $10.9 billion appropriation, IDEA, Part B (Section 619) received a $374.1 million appropriation, and IDEA, Part C received an appropriation of $436 million. The ARRA will provide these programs with supplemental FY 2009 appropriations in the amounts of $11.3 billion, $400 million, and $500 million, respectively.
According to the ED, in FY 2009, the ARRA will provide Arizona with an additional $178.5 million to fund IDEA, Part B (Grants for States) and an additional $5.7 million to support preschool programs under IDEA, Part B (Section 619). ED estimates do not include IDEA, Part C. However, the HELC estimates Arizona’s additional FY 2009 appropriations to be $8.2 million in this area.
