Money For Teachers Could Go Elsewhere

(AP)  President Barack Obama promises his economic stimulus law will save hundreds of thousands of teaching jobs, but some states could end up spending the money on playground equipment or wallpaper - and the president might not have the authority to stop them.

Mr. Obama says nearly all of the education money in the Recovery Act, which will start going out to states this week, is designed to retain teachers.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan threatens to "come down like a ton of bricks" on anyone who defies the administration's plans to bring relief to states like California where 26,500 teachers have gotten pink slips. Across the country, 9 percent of teachers - about 294,000 - may face layoffs because of budget cuts, according to a University of Washington study.

But plans for the money are pulling in other directions, particularly in states with Republican governors:

Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle wants to fill a budget gap.

Idaho Gov. Butch Otter wants to hold the money in reserve.

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford wants to pay down debt; he's been turned down by the White House budget office and is threatening to refuse some of the money, as is Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

There are loopholes in the stimulus law for both states and school districts.

Of the $100 billion for education in the stimulus bill, $40 billion comes as part of a fund to stabilize state and local budgets that has fewer strings attached. As the bill made its way through Congress, lawmakers decided not to prohibit states from using the stabilization money to replace precious state aid for schools. That means instead of getting extra help to weather tough times, school districts could wind up with the no additional state aid even as local tax revenues plummet.

State lawmakers and governors in Kansas, Rhode Island and Texas are among those seeking to use their federal stimulus dollars to replace state aid, rather than add to it.

In addition, the law was written so broadly that most of the stabilization dollars can be spent on just about anything - carpet, wallpaper, playground equipment, even new school construction - which may bother Senate moderates who insisted on dropping a new school construction program before they would vote for the bill.

That's because school districts can spend the money as federal impact aid, a relatively small program for poorly funded districts. By contrast, most federal education dollars are supposed to be spent on teacher salaries or academics.

"Congress opened a Pandora's Box to allow districts to use the funds for impact aid," said Michael Brustein, a Washington attorney who represents several state education agencies. "How you enforce against that is anyone's guess."

Santa Ana, Calif., English teacher Isa de Quesada is waiting to hear whether the stimulus dollars will bring her and 10 other teachers back to their school this fall. If not, class sizes at her school and others could swell, hurting the emphasis on quality education.

"Right now, I have 40 in two of my classes; we could go to 50 to 55 next year," she said in an interview.

Recently, de Quesada had the chance to ask Mr. Obama about it in person when the president visited for a town hall meeting: "How are we going to make sure that money comes to our districts?" she said.

Mr. Obama replied that "the lion's share" of the money is to keep teachers on the job.

Duncan said he can come down hard on states that don't comply because he is releasing the money in installments, and because he will award billions of dollars in competitive grants later this year.

"And if we see an instance or two, or whatever it might be, where folks are not operating in good faith," he said, "we will both withhold that second set of money, and we will eliminate them from any possible competition to receive these billions of dollars in discretionary money."

Duncan also said last week he is looking for ways to force money to states where governors have said they would refuse it.

The administration could also face intense political pressure from members of Congress if stimulus money for their states is withheld.

"The jury is really still out on how forceful the Obama administration is going to be on this," said Amy Wilkins, a lobbyist for Education Trust, a children's advocacy group.

"We've heard a lot of secretaries of education talk about rigorous enforcement and, `We are really going to hold them accountable,"' she said. "We rarely get that."

The administration lobbied successfully to attach other strings to the money. In their applications, states must show improvement in teacher quality, data systems, academic standards and tests and supporting struggling schools.

Applications for the stabilization dollars will be available this week, and two-thirds of the money for education, $27 billion, will be released within two weeks of an application's approval. K through 12 dollars are another reason why it may be tough to keep teachers from losing their jobs.

That money goes to states through a formula tied to state spending. The less a state spends on education, the less federal money it gets - and that works against states in the worst financial shape.

[tngreen]

Hm, now what was it that was supposed to be so bad about earmarks? Hmmmm... If this money were earmarked, it would HAVE to be spent on its intended target.

Those bad old earmarks!

[texasbeta]

Wait... 10 years? We have been in this for 10 years??!?
I do not know what planet you are from, but I believe we have been in this recession since 2007, aka, we have been in this for 2 years.

Another thing. MONEY IS NOT THE SOLUTION TO THE EDUCATION PROBLEM. You can put all the money you want into training teachers or getting the latest classroom technology, but that would barely help, if at all. We are doing poorly in education because kids cheat and are not being punished enough. I would put the money towards stricter punishments for cheating.
Posted by krauq

You obviously do not understand economics, NOR cause/effect. You can't punish the kids WITH NO TEACHERS! The thought that education is failing because of lack of punishment is appauling. You must have gone to school in the 40s or 50s. Just die already...we cannot move on until your generation is GONE

[Enlightened_one]

That there is even an argument about this, here and elsewhere, is indicative of how little education is valued in this country. There can't ever be enough money for education, and we all should be begging schools to take as much of our paychecks as they can manage. Teacher education programs should be waitlisted indefinitely. Those who don't choose teaching should be volunteering their time as much as possible for tutoring, school activities, nutritional and physical education, etc. Community libraries should be located in schools, as should performing arts theatres.

But no. What we live for is that our pizza be delivered on time, that the size of the wheels on our monster truck is bigger than those of the other guy's, and that so-and-so wannabe wins on "American Idol."

We are a nation of fools, something our Founding Fathers never intended. Welcome to the underbelly of capitalism.

[iam4honesty]

and you are mad because????? I mean I feel for you losing your job, i was there back when Willie was in the big house, but i did not blame every dem in the nation. plus as the article says it is the democrats that wrote in the loopholes
Posted by clowry1611



What we seem to be hearing from the republicans posting in this thread is that it is OK to corrupt the legislation if they can find a loophole that allows them to do so. And, it seems they would have us believe it is the fault of those who wrote the legislation because it is not ironclad to stop corrupt governors from misappropriating funds.

By this logic we should never prosecute bank robbers, but those who designed the bank vaults.

In reality, those governors in question see themselves as spoilers of the opposition's plans to rescue the economy. They wish for failure and believe that if they can promote that failure, they will then be able to claim they were right.

This is the worst kind of politics. These governors are traitors.

[debinok1]

We are doing poorly in education because kids cheat and are not being punished enough. I would put the money towards stricter punishments for cheating.
Posted by krauq

Wrong! Our children are doing so poorly in school because they are being "taught to the test". Instead of teaching them to understand and comprehend what they are learning, they are being taught to memorize the information needed to pass the tests put in place by "No Child Left Behind". They do not understand how to actually DO the work. Put a stop to "No Child Left Behind" and you will see children learning again.

[gce651]

These "skumbag" GOP governors don't care about people who work, nor about those who are now unemployed in the Bush Recession/Depression .

They were mostly voted into office during good economic times, but let's see them hold onto those offices in the next election cycle; they'll have a lot of voters to answer to.

[krauq]

Personally, I hate all Republicans and conservatives; I hold them responsible for the loss of my job and the current economic malaise we are in for the last decade. Republicans and conservatives have run this country and the World into the ground, something ElQaeda and Islamic extremists can never achieve.

Having said that, we are all familiar with the Republicans? hostility toward public education and teacher unions. The stimulus money will probably go to religious or charter schools, rather than to retain teachers in states like Hawaii, Idaho, and South Carolina. So if the people from these states are happy with their Republican leadership?s decision on how to use the stimulus money, they should not whine about not be helped by the Federal government.
Posted by mnguyen4 at 12:15 PM : Mar 30, 2009

Wait... 10 years? We have been in this for 10 years??!?
I do not know what planet you are from, but I believe we have been in this recession since 2007, aka, we have been in this for 2 years.

Another thing. MONEY IS NOT THE SOLUTION TO THE EDUCATION PROBLEM. You can put all the money you want into training teachers or getting the latest classroom technology, but that would barely help, if at all. We are doing poorly in education because kids cheat and are not being punished enough. I would put the money towards stricter punishments for cheating.

[butterfly462]

Good! Let Secretary Duncan try to fine Texas....they've already tried that BS in Texas when we started ignoring the NCLB BS! We just handed their arse $444,000 and told them to get lost!

We don't the feds communism down here. We kick them back to DC and tell them to mind their own business...

That stimulus money CAME from Texans. WE get to decide what to do with it!

And we certainly aren't going to promote their communist agenda in our public schools.
Posted by Rowdy101 at 2:02 PM : Mar 30, 2009

Ummm, NO!!!!! How about you go down to the border with Mexico and you can protect Texas all by yourself. Governor Perry just asked Washington for help in that area. Texas recieves more federal money than it pays in. You do not know what is taught in Texas schools. If you did, you would know that the schools are infested with religious tones everywhere. They are making sure kids don't have the proper knowledge with regards to sex education. Schools are to teach information, all known information regarding a subject, not censored out for religious reasons. You are exactly what is wrong in Texas. The we don't care about anyone but ourselves and screw the rest of the country attitude, OK, go ahead keep going the way it is and you will become part of Mexico without the D.C. government helping on the border. Just try and see if that will work. The only reason the Republicans hold so much sway here is that tricky re-districting done in 2003/2004. Please, all who read this look up Texas re-districting 2003/2004 and look at the lines running through the state from north to south. The Repubs can't win honestly because they have no good ideas so they have to go around the rules to get what they want.

[butterfly462]

Politicians have long taken money that has been ear-marked for teachers and/or education and used it elswhere. I sincerely hope that Arne Duncan "comes down like a ton of bricks" on those who use the money for purposes other than what it is ear-marked for. " It's time our politicians stop playing around and stick to what is supposed to be done. In our state the lottery was apporved because the money was supposed to be used for education. What a laugh!!! One of the biggest scams our state government ever pulled off! While some of it might have been used, the politicians found a way to divert most of that money to other places.
Posted by greatgrandpaw at 11:46 AM : Mar 30, 2009

I'm guessing Texas. Live there. It's gotta be Texasthe great state that has a bill under consideration right now to allow concealed handguns on college campuses. Only in Texas.

[Questionews]

and you are mad because????? I mean I feel for you losing your job, i was there back when Willie was in the big house, but i did not blame every dem in the nation. plus as the article says it is the democrats that wrote in the loopholes
Posted by clowry1611 at 12:32 PM : Mar 30, 2009


Oh leave him alone. He has a group of people to blame his problems on & he seems quite happy in his curmudgeon world. What next? Are going to tell him about personal responsibility & that the guy in the mirror might also have something to do with it?? What a meanie!!