Missouri Has One Year to Get Act Together

Arne Duncan is a supporter of certain education reform ideas, such as charter schools and merit pay. The US Department of Education has now laid out very specific rules to get education stimulus dollars. There are two rounds in this process, trying to give states a second chance at applying for stimulus money if they didn't make the cut the first time. Missouri could have a chance if they would lighten up on some of the charter school laws!
According to Education Week:

Applications will be due in December and June. So states that have charter school caps, for instance, have a year (as Duncan might say) to get their act together and lift those caps!

It looks like these deadlines will apply only to the $4 billion in state grants, not to the $350 million that's been set aside for new assessments, nor for the $650 million in innovation grants available to school districts and nonprofit groups.

The deadlines are:

Late July: The Department will publish a notice of proposed rule making in the Federal Register, inviting public comment for 30 days on the proposed grant application and the criteria for evaluating the states' applications.

October: Notice inviting applications will be published in the Federal Register.

December: Phase 1 applications will be due.

March 2010: Phase 1 grants awarded, winners announced.

June 2010: Phase 2 applications will be due.

September 2010: Phase 2 grants awarded, winners announced.