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Washington, Sept. 4 — The U.S. Department of Education (ED) has released four new guidance documents offering "best practices" on the use of stimulus funds for Title I and two Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) programs.

Washington, Sept. 3 — The U.S. Department of Education (ED) has released proposed instructions for states and districts to follow as they collect data on the aggregate salaries of staff at each of their schools under a push to beef up the Title I comparability provision.

Although the program law authorizes states to subgrant as much as half of their Title II, Part D educational technology allocations to districts by formula, new guidance urges states to dole out the entire $919 million in school year 2009-10 funds competitively.

The reason, according to the guidance issued in late July, is that the larger competitive grants can have a greater impact than smaller formula grants spread out among a state's many local education agencies (LEAs).

Washington, Aug. 27 — Proposed guidelines for targeting $3.5 billion in Title I school improvement money would require participating states to give priority to districts that use radical interventions to transform their lowest performing schools — including, for the first time, middle and high schools that don’t receive Title I funds.

The extra $11.3 billion in Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) stimulus dollars will provide local districts with unprecedented opportunities to improve instructional quality and integrate new technologies, say school leaders.

Not only does the near doubling of IDEA funding in the 2009-10 school year offer additional flexibility in offering coordinated early intervening services (CEIS) and meeting "maintenance-of-effort" requirements, but the new resources can help districts integrate research-based strategies and break down educational silos.