QZAB
Extension for 2006; Message to State QZAB Coordinators
December 21, 2006
Dear State QZAB Director/ Coordinator,
We welcome the holidays with great news! The long awaited Qualified Zone
Academy Bond legislation has finally been passed in the waning hours of
the 109th Congress as part of the “Tax Relief and Health Care Act
of 2006” (HR 6408). This provision allows $400 million of issuing
authority for 2006 and another $400 million for 2007, while adding
some special rules such as requiring school districts to spend 95% of
the proceeds within five years and 10 percent of that amount within the
first six months, in addition to various arbitrage and reporting requirements.
As many of you know, this long awaited legislation was delayed over a
year by two factors:
1) efforts to significantly reduce the usefulness of the program by requiring
only cash equivalent matches due to concerns about possible fraud and
abuse of the 10% match, especially overvaluation;
2) concern that no proper Academy programs were set up, as required by
the QZAB legislation, by many of the 10% match partners. Thanks to your
efforts as well as the efforts of school superintendents and other interested
parties, we were successful in winning a bipartisan victory on behalf
of the disadvantaged children by communicating to the Congress the QZAB
programs’ success in helping to modernize America’s aging school
infrastructure, technology programs etc.
Webinar: To help us get off on the right foot with regard
to ensuring some of the charges of abuse are clearly addressed and the
changes in the QZAB legislation are thoroughly understood, we will be
shortly inviting every one of you (state QZAB coordinator) to a webinar,
tentatively scheduled for the third week of January 2007. Dr. Laurence
Peters, our Vice President and the national QZAB expert who authored the
QZAB directives and directed the QZAB program at the U.S. Department of
Education, will moderate the session featuring U.S. Treasury and QZAB
legal experts, who will help us understand in more detail the new legislation.
Please let us know if the third week of January is fine for you.
Please feel free to call me or Dr. Laurence Peters at 703-823-9999 if
you have any questions. Thank you for all your efforts on behalf of QZAB
legislation extension and effective QZAB implementation. Working together,
we CAN make a difference in the lives of our disadvantaged school students.
Happy Holidays to you, your family and your staff!
Best regards,
Dr. Appu Kuttan
Chairman
National Education Foundation CyberLearning
2006 Global Digital Literacy Champion Award
Winner
FORD FOUNDATION Leadership Award Nominee
and the author of the acclaimed book
"From Digital Divide to Digital Opportunity"
"providing quality education for all"
"training a million disadvantaged"
4926 C Eisenhower Ave
Alexandria, VA 22304
Tel: (703) 823-9999
Fax: (703) 823-9990
website: www.cyberlearning.org
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