2009 Federal Stimulus Information

Race to the Top

(Added: 3/4/2009 | Last Modified: 6/2/2010)

Overview

The Secretary of Education has discretion to award grants to states that make significant progress in achieving equity in teacher distribution, improving collection and use of data, enhancing the quality of academic standards and assessments and supporting struggling schools. The Department will use at least $4.35 billion to make competitive grants under the "Race to the Top" fund. States that receive Incentive Grants must give at least 50 percent of the grants to local educational agencies in subgrants based on the local agencies' relative shares of funding under Title I, Part A.

Colorado's Application for Phase II of Race to the Top

• Colorado's Phase II Grant Application
• Appendix for Colorado's Phase II Grant Application

• Power Point from May 13 Webinar on Phase II of Race to the Top
• Recording of May 5 Webinar on Phase II of Race to the Top
• Power Point from May 5 Webinar on Phase II of Race to the Top
• Recording of April 29 Webinar on Phase II of Race to the Top

District Participation

• Phase II MOU
• Phase II Preliminary Scope of Work

• Phase 1 Participants (i.e., your district signed an MOU):
  • Please send an email to Margo Allen at Allen_M@cde.state.co.us no later than Friday, May 21, 2010, to confirm or withdraw your participation in Phase II.
  • Please indicate whether your confirmation is on behalf of the superintendent, chair of your local school board and/or your local education association, if applicable.
  • You do not need to execute a new Memorandum of Understanding, but you may do so at your preference.

• New Participants (i.e., you did not sign an MOU in Phase I):
  • You will need to execute a Memorandum of Understanding and return it to Margo Allen at Allen_M@cde.state.co.us no later than Friday, May 21, 2010.
  • The MOU must be signed by both the superintendent and the chair of your school board. You are encouraged also to secure the signature of the president of your local education association, if applicable, but that signature is not required.

• Please note: Based on advice from legal counsel, the MOU has been modified to eliminate the final paragraph. This deletion does not change the agreement; however, as it was not included in the model MOU provided in the application notice, its addition was confusing to our Phase I reviewers, who deducted points as a result. A link to the clean and marked version of the revised MOU is above for your reference.

What is expected from Participating LEAs in Race to the Top?

• Participating LEAs are required to implement all aspects of the Race to the Top plan (to the extent applicable).
• If Colorado is awarded a Race to the Top grant, each Participating LEA will have 90 days from the date of notice to complete a final scope of work that details the activities it will undertake pursuant to the grant.
• A preliminary scope of work that outlines the expectations for participating LEAs will be included in our application.

Timeline

Phase II applications will be due June 1, 2010 and awards will be announced in September of 2010.

Colorado's Application for Phase I of Race to the Top

• View our state's application here.
• Project Summary and Budget
• Appendices
• Phase I Interviews

Background Information

• Access the final rules for the Race to the Top competition (issued November 12, 2009)
• For further information about the Race to the Top grant please visit Governor Ritter's Web site.

Contact

• Nina Lopez, Director of ARRA, at Lopez_N@cde.state.co.us or 303-916-5434

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