As the U.S. Department of Education prepares to throw $3 billion in one-time money on the table to improve perennially foundering schools, a gulf is emerging between what federal officials would like to see done with the funds and what many districts say is their capacity--and inclination--to deliver. While some districts say the federal largess and direction will help advance improvement strategies already under way, others warn that the department's vision, as outlined in regulations proposed last month, leaves little room for local prerogative. And some district officials--particularly in small, rural areas--worry that the regulations now being finalized may be tough to implement given the dearth of organizations and individuals with expertise in turning around low-performing schools nationwide. Local capacity and the proper balance of federal oversight will be crucial tests for U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's pledge to turn around what he has termed the nation's 5,000 "chronically underperforming" schools. His vehicle is the existing Title I School Improvement fund, which is receiving $3 billion for fiscal 2010 in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the economic-stimulus program, on top of $546 million the program already is getting this fiscal year. The cash represents the heftiest infusion ever to finance interventions at schools that have continually failed to meet the achievement targets of the No Child Left Behind Act. Even though the money for school improvement in the Recovery Act represents an unprecedented windfall for school improvement, some superintendents are nervously eyeing the so-called "funding cliff" in the stimulus law. The ARRA covers just fiscal 2009 and 2010. Although the federal funding for school improvement can be spent over three years, it's not clear that appropriations will remain as high after the one-time Recovery Act money is gone.