Economic Recovery and Reinvestment

State Seal of Wisconsin - link to Wisconsin Office of Recovery and Reinvestment

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), Public Law 111-5, provides funding opportunities to public schools and libraries. Some are distributed by formula, while others take the form of competitive grants. In some cases, schools and libraries may compete with other entities for funding.

Late-breaking information U.S. Department of Education overview American Library Association page

Reporting, Accountability, and Transparency. To safeguard the use of ARRA's unprecedented short-term funding, the law also includes unprecedented requirements for accountability and transparency. Local education agencies must report to the DPI where the funds were spent and the number of jobs created or saved. The DPI must then report this information to the Wisconsin Office of Recovery and Reinvestment, which will report it both to the public, via website, and to the federal Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board.

To facilitate ARRA reporting for the period ending December 31, 2009, the DPI will send two surveys to LEAs and other sub-recipients. The first will go to district administrators in early November. It will ask who should receive future reporting surveys for each ARRA grant. The second survey, to be sent in early December to the people named in the first survey, will ask about vendor payments and jobs created or retained for each ARRA grant.

The DPI is revising the reporting information documents based on customer feedback and new information from the federal government. The DPI is also revising the FTE jobs calculator and intends to create new webinars for this reporting cycle.

FAQ - Reporting (November 12)

Program grants to Wisconsin schools, districts, and libraries:

Other funding opportunities:

Clean Diesel funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants from the U.S. Department of Energy
Investing in Innovation - competitive grants for school districts and nonprofit agencies from the U.S. Department of Education
Rural Community Facilities Programs - grants and loans from the U.S. Department of Agriculture

Additionally, Gov. Jim Doyle used much of the ARRA's State Fiscal Stabilization Fund to maintain and provide a slight increase to current PK-12 education funding levels in his 2009-11 budget.

Late-breaking Information:

Reporting area of this page includes updated FAQ (November 12)
School Lunch Equipment Grants list updated to reflect actual reimbursements paid for equipment purchased (November 11)
IDEA page includes certifications of infrastructure investments by Wisconsin districts using ARRA funds (September 2 - November 6), updated guidance documents (October 1)
Federal Investing in Innovation grant program added to Other Funding Opportunities on this page (October 31)
Reporting updates made to this page (October 30)
State Fiscal Stabilization Fund page created (October 29)
Title I Part A page has updated guidance documents on Title I Part A-ARRA Waivers (October 15)
Enhancing Education Through Technology page incorporates new federal guidance, including October 16 deadline to apply for funds (September 11)
Broadband funding page updated, with the most current information on the Department of Administration's $28 million federal grant application to bring fiber connectivity to 467 schools and public libraries in the state (September 10)
News release and allocations for Qualified School Construction Bond and Qualified Zone Academy Bond programs posted (August 5)
Teacher Incentive Fund page updated with new information from the U.S. Department of Education (August 4)
Title I School Improvement Fund page updated with more information about the funding, which will be available in the fall of 2010. (August 4)
Teacher Quality Partnership Grants page updated to include complete federal grant information, newly available timeline, and notice of pre-application June 8 workshops (June 2)
Homeless education application materials posted to EHCY Forms, Applications, and Guidance page. Related news release. (May 12)
Early childhood strategies document suggests uses of ARRA funds (DPI) (May 6)
Local allocations posted for IDEA, Part B and Title I-A (spreadsheet also includes preliminary regular allocations for 2009-10.). Related news release posted. (April 23)