Recovery Update 3/20/09: Funds Anticipated

INFORMATIONAL LETTER: 77
POLICY CODE: DBE

TO: Superintendents of Schools
FROM: Susan A. Gendron
DATE: March 20, 2009
SUBJECT: Recovery Update 3/20/09: Funds Anticipated

I can now confirm for you that state GPA funds that were curtailed earlier this year will be restored before June 30, 2009, most likely in May. As you know, we have been diligently reviewing all corresondence and guidance from the U.S. Department of Education regarding the timing of the flow of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds. The funds that are of the most immediate significance to many of you are the first $27.8 million, which represents the curtailment amount, which the Governor said he will restore this fiscal year.

To repeat, we are now confident that those funds will be available to you before the end of this fiscal year, probably in May. As discussed in previous updates to you, we have been told we will receive an application form for the State Fiscal Stabilization Funds by the end of March. Our plan is to submit that application the next day. The U.S. Department of Education has said it will deliver funds within two weeks of approving an application. Once we have received the funds, we will immediately make them available to SAUs.

I know that this has been very difficult for you, your staff, and your communities – not being able to make final and difficult decisions about layoffs and other cost-cutting actions. We continue to work with the U.S. Department of Education to gain clarification about the timing of the release of funds, use of funds, reporting requirements, and so on.

Please see the ARRA Timeline on our Recovery website for more information about the timing of the flow of funds. Visit: http://www.maine.gov/education/recovery/index.html for the timeline and other information. We have posted all materials from the March 16, 2009 Superintendents’ Briefing and other documents. You can also sign up for our new “Recovery & Reinvestment Report”, an electronic newsletter we will be sending out with more information as it becomes available.