Following Education's Piece of the Stimulus Pie: Part II

So as promised,  I’m keeping an eye on the $100 billion chunk of stimulus money that’s heading Education’s way. And as expected, the news so far is decidedly mixed. Here’s some good news: Governor Jon S. Corzine of New Jersey just presented his state budget plan for next year, and thanks to the $1 billion dollars he’s set to receive for education, he was able to avert cuts to school funding. He also proposes giving $300 million in additional aid to public schools in more than 170 districts, and $25 million to expand full-day preschool programs for 3-4 year-olds in more than 80 districts. Needless to say, many people in New Jersey are breathing a sigh of relief. This is not the case unfortunately in Rhode Island, where Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline is afraid that Governor Donald Carcieri will use the millions of dollars designated for education to plug holes in the state budget instead, in a form of substitution known as supplanting.  On March 11, Cicilline actually wrote a letter to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, gate-keeper of the stimulus monies, warning him that although Carcieri’s proposed budget will send millions of new stimulus dollars to local schools (thanks to Rhode Island’s $167 million portion of the stimulus package known as the fiscal stabilization fund), it will simultaneously cut its normal state funding to schools by the same amount, so the end result will be maintaining the status quo. As of yet, the Governor’s office claims that it is well within its rights to do so. This type of Governor interference seems to be a running theme, as Ohio’s Governor Ted Strickland decides to spend his state’s stimulus monies in ways that he sees fit – much to the dismay of folks in the Cleveland School District like chief academic officer Eric Gordon, who expected $53 million to go directly to schools in low-income neighborhoods most in need of improvement. Instead, according to Strickland’s proposed budget, the Cleveland School District will only get $16.5 million in 2010, $9.8 million in 2011, and the remainder of the money designated for the neediest schools will get lumped in with the rest of the stimulus monies and passed out to schools across the state according to the Governor’s discretion. So it's becoming apparent to me that the financial fate of our nation’s schools with respect to their share of the stimulus boon depends on the whims of their respective Governors. And so far, Governors seem to legitimately have a lot of leeway with respect to how the money will be spent. Rules, regulations, and spending guidelines coming from Washington are still unclear in a let’s-make-it-up-as-we-go-along sort of way, and many guidelines have not yet even been written. My fear is that there is such a push to get the money out into the economy so quickly, we might not have time to figure out how the money should best be spent to have the greatest impact on education. And while damage control in times like these is certainly understandable, this is an amazing opportunity to turn around our schools that we just cannot afford to waste. Unless Washington steps in with clear guidelines and more oversight, and steps in soon, this injection of money into our schools will not be the catalyst for change that the President called for and that our country truly needs. takepart in reading Eduwonk's Andrew Rotherham's thoughts on the stimulus.  Also, click here for detailed information on who's getting what as far as the stimulus goes. (Photo: Tracy O's flickr photostream/Creative Commons)