Have you heard?

The Maine Department of Education doesn't have all the details yet showing how federal economic stimulus money will affect local school districts. The one thing that's certain is that the $787 billion package will restore the $27.8 million Maine's school districts gave up in the fall as part of Gov. John Baldacci's spending curtailment order.We also know that Education Commissioner Susan Gendron visited the White House in February for an economic stimulus briefing. We know she was in the company of Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Vice President Joe Biden and state education chiefs from across the country. We also know that session didn't yield the details Maine school officials have been waiting for. Since we already know these tidbits -- Gendron briefed legislators on the Appropriations and Education committees with this information last week -- why am I repeating them here? Because the Department of Education is also repeating the information. In a letter sent out to superintendents this morning, the department decided to "reiterate and re-confirm" the little stimulus information so far available. The department already relayed this information to superintendents via e-mail and conference call. Why not repeat it for good measure? Update, 3:15 p.m.: David Connerty-Marin of the Department of Education tells me the reiteration went out due to the barrage of questions from school officials asking whether the $27 million restoration is a certain thing and what the timing is for restoring that money to budgets. "We felt the need to get it out officially: nothing has changed," Connerty-Marin says.