The Schools and Libraries Division announced that on July 27 it will release 126 funding commitment letters for the 2003 funding year, totaling more than $19.3 million. With the latest 2003 wave (number 34), the total committed for that year will rise to more than $2.6 billion. About $450 million worth of funding requests are still pending.
Last year, the SLD finished the bulk of its application review work by the end of June. One reason that it is taking the SLD longer this year, is because it has been permitted to approve more commitments for the 2003 funding year than it ever has before. So far, it has approved about $400 million more than it has in any previous year.
Because the SLD is now approving funding commitments for 2004, it is issuing a funding wave every week, alternating between the two years.
