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          Suggestions for Spending ARRA Funds from Secretary of Education Arne Duncan

In a recent address, Arne Duncan noted: Schools can use the funds they will receive from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) for extended learning opportunities for students and to pay good teachers to coach struggling colleagues, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in a speech last week at a midwestern university.

Duncan made the suggestions while speaking to students and faculty members at the University of Northern Iowa on Friday, April 24, 2009.  Although admitting that providing coaches for struggling teachers might have to be reduced after two years when the stimulus funding expires, Duncan said that such efforts could be especially helpful for younger teachers.  

Duncan also recommended adding afternoons, weekends and summer days to the school calendar, saying that many students need more time in school.  He said that ARRA funds also could be used for sophisticated evaluation systems for teachers and principals; extra pay to reward excellence in teaching or to lure teachers and administrators into struggling schools; new charter schools; closing failing schools and reopening them with new staff; more technology for classrooms with training for teachers; and modernized science labs and other facilities.  For more information, visit