Education

May 28, 2009 -- United States Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has issued the following statement in response to "The Condition of Education" report for 2009 released today by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES):    » read more »

May 28, 2009 -- TRENTON - In a victory for all of New Jersey's children, New Jersey Governor Jon S. Corzine today praised the decision by the New Jersey Supreme Court affirming the constitutionality of the School Funding Reform Act of 2008.

"I am deeply gratified on behalf of the state and all of our children. This is a truly historic ruling that brings to conclusion decades of conflict and litigation that many thought would never end," Governor Corzine said.

"By agreeing that the new funding formula is constitutional and that the prior Abbott remedies are no longer necessary, the court has allowed us to focus in a unified and predictable way on meeting our obligation to all of our children while in no way prejudicing those who have benefited from the Abbott rulings in the past."    » read more »

53 districts approved to help increase access for 4-year-olds to quality preschool

May 28, 2009 -- DES MOINES –Visiting a preschool class at the Walnut Street School, Iowa Governor Chet Culver today announced the names of 53 school districts in Iowa receiving state funds under the statewide voluntary preschool program for 4-year-old children. This announcement will provide an estimated 3,247 additional children in the state a quality preschool experience during the upcoming school year.    » read more »

Application for Part 1 of Massachusetts’ State Stabilization Funds Approved Today

May 27, 2009 -- U. S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today announced that more than $666 million is now available for Massachusetts under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. This funding will lay the foundation for a generation of education reform and help save hundreds of thousands of teaching jobs at risk of state and local budget cuts. Massachusetts will be eligible to apply for another $328 million this fall.

Today's funding is being made available per Massachusetts's successful completion of Part 1 of the State Stabilization Application, which was made available on April 1st.    » read more »

May 27, 2009 -- Denver — U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced the Department's participation in new agency partnerships to foster job growth for a new green economy at Tuesday's meeting of the Middle-Class Task Force in Denver. Along with the Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan and Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, the Department of Education has committed to developing new policies, proposals and ideas to help America's middle class.    » read more »

May 28, 2009 -- California can improve its early childhood education system in an era of fiscal crisis and lay the foundation for improving access and quality in the future when more resources are available, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

Making low-cost improvements to the system now by adopting efficiencies and creating flexibility to better use existing resources would likely allow more needy children to enroll in government-supported preschool programs and position the system to move toward higher-quality programs once new funding becomes available, according to the report.    » read more »

BURLINGTON, May 27 – Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) announced today that he secured $500,000 for Vermont public schools to install solar panels, the latest development in the senator’s ongoing campaign to transform Vermont’s energy system.

“We must move, as aggressively as possible, to become energy independent, to address the crisis of greenhouse gas emissions and global warming and, in the process, create millions of new jobs over a period of years in the clean-energy field,” Sanders said. “In my view, this is one of the transformational issues of our time and I very much hope that Vermont will be a national leader in this area.”    » read more »

UND Program Will Train the Best and Brightest for UAS Operations

May 27, 2009 -- Grand Forks – The University of North Dakota is uniquely positioned to be “the future hub” of the development and operation of cutting-edge Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), Senator Kent Conrad said today in a speech outlining the future of UAS technology.

“These aircraft are clearly the way of the future and that future resides right here in Grand Forks,” Senator Conrad said. “At the University of North Dakota we are ready to train the UAS pilots of tomorrow. As demand for unmanned aircraft increases, these men and women will patrol our borders, conduct combat operations half a world away, and ultimately keep America safe.”    » read more »

Department of Labor Announces $500 Million in Recovery Act Funds for Green Job Training

DENVER, CO – As part of their commitment to developing new policies, proposals and ideas to help America’s middle class, Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced new agency partnerships to foster job growth for a new green economy at today’s meeting of the Middle Class Task Force in Denver.    » read more »

Application for Part 1 of Virginia's State Stabilization Funds Approved Today

May 22, 2009 -- U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today announced that $806 million is now available for Virginia under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. This funding will lay the foundation for a generation of education reform and help save hundreds of thousands of teaching jobs at risk of state and local budget cuts.

Virginia will be eligible to apply for another $397 million this fall. Today's funding is being made available per Virginia's successful completion of Part 1 of the State Stabilization Application, which was made available on April 1st.    » read more »

Application for Part 1 of Idaho's State Stabilization Funds Approved Today

May 22, 2009 -- U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today announced that $165 million is now available for Idaho under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. This funding will lay the foundation for a generation of education reform and help save hundreds of thousands of teaching jobs at risk of state and local budget cuts.

Idaho will be eligible to apply for another $81 million this fall. Today's funding is being made available per Idaho's successful completion of Part 1 of the State Stabilization Application, which was made available on April 1st.    » read more »

Stimulus Funds Will Save Jobs, Drive Reform

May 26, 2009 -- Washington, DC - U.S. Senators Jim Webb and Mark R. Warner today announced that the Department of Education will release $806 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 to help address the budget shortfall that Virginia’s education system is facing by saving hundreds of thousands of teaching jobs at risk of state and local budget cuts.

Of that funding, $659 million will be used to maintain state support to K-12 education and institutions of higher education and to mitigate the need to raise tuition on in-state students. The remaining $147 million will be put toward other projects, including construction at higher education facilities.    » read more »

May 26, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) today announced a total of $752,451 in funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has been released to Iowa for medical research. With the passage of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA), the Economic Recovery Package, Senator Harkin was able to secure more than $10.4 billion for medical research across the United States. NIH funds biomedical research and research training at more than 3,000 institutions in the fifty states and territories.    » read more »

Sends letter after reports of mistreatment of students in Pennsylvania

May 26, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, DC- U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South and Central Asia Affairs, today sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urging her to investigate the Department of State’s oversight of U.S. youth exchange programs following reports of abuse and mistreatment of nine foreign exchange students in Pennsylvania.    » read more »

New University Collaborations and Developer Resources Foster Local Technical and Business Skills Development

HO CHI MINH, Vietnam - 26 May 2009: IBM (NYSE: IBM) further expanded its reach into growing nations with the opening of the first IBM Innovation Center in Vietnam. The new center aims to help local communities build skills and develop new technologies to support demand for digital infrastructure projects in banking, telecommunications, energy and government industries.    » read more »