OCRE TELLS ED SECRETARY
OF RURAL SCHOOL NEEDS

Education Secretary Arne Duncan listened to officers of Organizations Concerned about Rural Education at a meeting in his office at which OCRE President Dale Lestina and Vice President Rachel Tompkins outlined issues of importance to rural and small town schools and students. Because rural schools and their students are very different in different parts of the country, the Education Department needs a research team to evaluate how its policies affect all those schools, Lestina and Tompkins told Duncan. They urged him to establish an Office of Rural Education Policy Research within the Department of Education. See details.

STIMULUS PACKAGE EXPANDS
SCHOOL BUILDING FUNDING

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 creates a new category of tax credit bonds, to be known as Qualified School Construction Bonds, for the construction, rehabilitation, or repair of public school facilities or for the acquisition of land on which a public school facility will be constructed. The amount of bonds that may be issued by state and local governments is limited to $22 billion, $11 billion allocated initially in 2009 and the remainder in 2010. This proposal is estimated to cost $9.877 billion over 10 years. The act also increases the Qualifieed Zone Academy Bonds (QZABs) that can be issued, allowing an additional $1.4 billion for QZABs in 2009 and in 2010. See details.