Charlie Rose's interview with Arne Duncan (Mar 2009).
The U.S. Department of Education released a new PowerPoint overview of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) on March 24. While much of the information we have already covered, there are some new points that are of importance to the charter community.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan has some suggestions for how schools can spend their windfall from the economic stimulus law, including summer school and extra pay for teachers to coach struggling colleagues. The nation's schools will get an unprecedented amount of money - about $100 billion, double the amount of education spending under President George W. Bush - over the two-year life of the new stimulus law.
You can identify your best teachers and pay them to coach their colleagues who are having trouble," Duncan said in prepared remarks. "You may have to scale this down after two years, but it can really help your younger teachers get up to speed."
Duncan also recommended adding afternoons, weekends and summer days to the school calendar: "Our school day, week and year is too short as it is. Many kids just need more time on task," he said.
The Department of Education received significant new funding that can benefit public charter schools. Over $100 billion in direct spending primarily is designated through already existing programs (e.g., Title I, IDEA) and the newly authorized State Fiscal Stabilization Fund. The State Fiscal Stabilization Fund became the primary new education program in the bill, and absorbed the funding for modernizing public schools that had been included in earlier versions of the bill.
In addition to the direct spending increases, several tax portions of the bill can benefit public charter schools, including a newly-authorized $22 billion school construction bond program, $10 billion to the New Markets Tax Credit Program, $25 billion in recovery zone bonds, and $1.4 billion in new funding to the Qualified Zone Academy Bonds - all tools charters will be able to tap to finance facilities.
Additionally, several reform-oriented programs received new funding in this bill, including $200 million for the Teacher Incentive Fund and $250 million for the development of State Wide Longitudinal Data Systems. The Credit Enhancement for Charter School Facilities Program unfortunately did not receive any new funding and will rely on its FY09 appropriations until a new appropriation is made in FY10.
Article on School Reform and Charter Schools by Arne Duncan for the Wall Street Journal.
Access this archive of the April 27th ASCD webinar to learn how the $100 billion of stimulus funds devoted to education programs can be used for school improvement activities, including professional development.
Turning a school around may mean replacing its leadership or teaching staff, or converting it into a charter school, Duncan said today in a speech in Washington. Charter schools operate under contracts with school districts and are exempt from many state and local regulations that govern traditional public schools.