On February 29, the California Department of Education (CDE) posted the Request for Applications (RFA) for the $15 million federal Enhancing Education Through Technology Competitive (EETT-C) grant program. The primary purpose of this EETT-C program is to improve student academic achievement in grades 4-8 through the use of technology. EETT-C is a competitive grant process; LEAs must complete an application which is scored and ranked against other applicants in the region. The top scoring applications will be funded.

Resources from the RIMS CTAP EETT-Competitive Round 7 Rollout Meeting can be accessed at http://ctap10.org/EETT08.

As of November 2007, the Education Technology K-12 Voucher program has processed more than $16 million in reimbursement checks. There are three major issues that affect processing time: 1) Vendor invoices MUST have a statement regarding "standard academic pricing"; 2) claim forms must be signed by one of the people listed in the original application as an authorized signature; and 3) original invoices, or an approved exemption to the original invoice, must be submitted with the request for reimbursement.

The expected increase to the initial $250 million allocation has been further delayed. The increase will be announced no earlier than the end of February.

Districts should visit the Settlement Claims Administrator website for district balance sheets, product eligibility questions, voucher redemption issues, and contact information.

Spread across 88 acres just to the south of downtown Riverside is one of the most unique high schools in the Inland Empire. Consisting of about 450 students and their 45 teachers is Sherman Indian High School in Riverside, California, one of four federally funded Native American, Off Reservation Boarding Schools (ORBS), still remaining in the western United States.