American Recovery and Reinvestment ActNew Tools for Transparency and Accountability

Office of the Deputy Secretary

September 2009

Agenda

• Dept. of Education ARRA Funding Summary• New Tracking Tools – Available Now• Soon to Come – Quarterly Recipient Reporting• Longer-Term Goal – Using Data to Promote

Reform

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American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA):

$100 billion investment in education

ARRA Funding for Existing Formula Grants~26 Billion

New Tracking Tools – Available Now

• Recovery.gov– Includes all agencies receiving ARRA findings– Maintained by OMB/Recovery Accountability and

Transparency Board– Builds on learning from Federal Financial

Accountability and Transparency Act (FFATA), USASpending.gov

New Tracking Tools – Available Now

• Recovery.gov – Key Features– Financial and Activity Report – updated weekly– Funding Notification Report – updated weekly– Maps allowing some state and recipient tracking– Consistent reporting elements across agencies

New Tracking Tools – Available Now

• Enhanced reporting at the agency level– Department of Education• Spending Report by State• Spending Report by Program

Soon to Come – Quarterly Recipient Reporting

• All ARRA recipients required to report quarterly via a single federal portal: FederalReporting.gov

• Includes all ED ARRA programs except Pell • “A game changer” – new level of

transparency into spending• Massive undertaking at the federal level• There will be a learning curve and bumps

along the way

Soon to Come – Quarterly Recipient Reporting

• Required Reporting Elements (Prime Recipients must report on these elements for each ARRA program for which they received funding)– Identification details– Award amount– Expenditure amount– Vendors and sub-recipients over $25,000– Project description and completion status– Jobs creation estimate

Soon to Come – Quarterly Recipient Reporting

• Timing– Registration open now on FederalReporting.gov– Reporting begins Oct 1 with reports due Oct 10– Changes can be made by recipient through Oct 21– Agency can continue to review through Oct 29– Reports will be public Oct 30

Soon to Come – Quarterly Recipient Reporting

• Key Issues– Limited by “one size fits all” reporting

requirements across agencies– Data quality is responsibility of prime recipients,

though agencies will perform quality review – Estimating jobs created/retained is complex

• Process will begin again in January

Longer Term: use data to show how schools perform, help schools improve• Specific data metrics have been developed to

measure progress against the four reform priorities; recently available for public comment in the Federal Register

• In application for phase two stabilization funds, states provide plan for collecting and reporting these data

• Transparency on state progress toward reforms will drive conversations and action