by Krystal Paco

Guam - No final word yet, but the Department of Education remains hopeful federal counterparts will grant an extension on the deadline to obligate close to $60 million in ARRA funds. According to deputy superintendent of finance and administrative services Taling Taitano, DOE's conference call with USDOE and the Governor's Office this morning was positive.

She said, "It seemed positive to me and I can't think of any reason why they wouldn't approve the extension. They did talk however about continued monitoring with regard to our progress on the contracts, and our progress to obligate the funds. So in my mind, it was a positive call."

USDOE has requested for more time to review DOE reports before they make a final decision, which Taitano expects within the next two weeks. As we've been reporting, DOE has until September 30 to obligate the stimulus money for capital improvement projects. So far the agency has spent $4.2 million, encumbered $17.8 million and the remaining $36 million are in stages of the procurement process.