Could Your Classroom Use Nine Billion Dollars?

I'm personally loathe to use words like "webinar", but for nine billion dollars there's alot of loathing I am willing to put up with.

The U.S. Department of Education is conducting a "webinar" today at Noon MDT to "Review announcements of the following new ARRA (America Recovery and Reinvestment Act, aka "Economic Stimulus") programs:

• Race to the Top
• Teacher Incentive Fund
• Investing in Innovation
• Education Technology
• Title I School Improvement Grants
• Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems"

From looking at the "webinar" link, it appears the little people (i.e., us) can "attend". Yes, this event is most likely to be boring, aggravating, intimidating and ultimately depressing, but my classroom could use a billion or two dollars worth of stuff. Some new dry erase markers, for instance. Titanium dry erase markers with NASA-designed dry erase ink usable in conditions of weightlessness and high G-forces.

So what the heck. Join me for what should be the onset of a bewildering feeding frenzy.

Update (18:00 7/27): Well, I listened. Near as I could tell, if I figure out how to change the name of my school to "Albuquerque Charter School for the Continuous Improvement of Standardized Core Curriculum Goals" we stand a pretty good chance of getting nine billion dollars, or at least a goodly portion.

More seriously, 99.9% of the time I'd run away from federal grants for education faster than David Beckham from American soccer. But the pot o' money is so huge this time. "Unprecedented", as the U.S. Department of Education spokesperson said at least ten times today.

I hope the NM P.E.D. and APS were taking good notes.