April 2, 2009 Update:

Memo to the Field, from Johanna Duncan-Poitier, Senior Deputy Commissioner of Education - P-16, on "The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009"

In my earlier communications this week, I said that if the state budget is passed this week, we would be holding a Webcast on Monday, April 6 at 11:00 a.m. to provide you with information on State funding for education and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) to use for planning purposes.  We also invited you to submit questions in advance of April 6th to - emscmgts@mail.nysed.gov.

Based upon the volume of questions we have received and in follow-up to the federal guidance issued yesterday, we will proceed with the Webcast on Monday, April 6th, even in the absence of a final state budget.  The Webcast will be accessible on the State Education Department’s Web site – www.nysed.gov – beginning at 11 a.m.  It will also be archived for later viewing for those who are not able to access it live.  Please continue to send us your questions in advance of the Webcast to emscmgts@mail.nysed.gov.  Given the volume of questions we have received thus far, we will not be able to respond to all of your questions in the Webcast.  We will, however, use your questions to develop an ARRA Frequently Asked Questions and Answers (FAQ) document, which will be available on our ARRA Web site - http://usny.nysed.gov/arra/.  In addition, all of the field memoranda we have shared to date, as well as links to other federal and state resources, are now available at that site.

I hope you will take an opportunity to view our Webcast on Monday and I will continue to provide you with additional information as it becomes available.     

Thank you.