NSBA Editorial/Boards’ Eye View: The stimulus: A victory with a future
04/09 -- Moving with urgency, Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, President Obama’s federal funding plan to stimulate the economy, which includes more than $100 billion for public education.
The education funding includes about $80 billion in grants from several sources over two years plus about $24 billion in tax credits for school bond holders in lieu of school districts’ interest payments. In bottom-line terms the amount of federal funding for K-12 can more than double over this two-year period -- subject to governors’ discretionary decisions in allocating some of the funds.
Passage of the stimulus package overall, and the education funding levels in particular, overcame stiff opposition. School boards, among other education advocates, played a strong role to bolster the priority given to public education.
For example, just before the Senate vote, 1,000 school board members and their state association leaders participated in NSBA’s Federal Relations Conference. They were able to meet with lawmakers to demonstrate the importance of these funds to both stimulate the economy and to lay a strong foundation for a well-educated work force. By the time the legislation reached a conference committee to resolve differences in the funding levels between the House and Senate bills, school board members had made thousands of contacts with lawmakers -- including the 3,000 who reported their contacts to NSBA.
The stimulus package demonstrates that when enough school board members are involved and work together, we can make a difference. Now that funding levels are set, the next step will be our work for successful implementation.
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is responsible for administering the $54 billion economic stabilization fund which is designed primarily to offset state budgetary shortfalls in addition to increases for existing federal grants programs like Title I and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
There are many important implementation questions for the Department of Education to address, such as the timetable for spending the funds, restrictions and conditions on how state and local school systems use the funds, and conditions for waivers from these requirements.
Because school districts have to make decisions about the remainder of the school year and are currently budgeting for next year, federal officials will need to move quickly and get the implementation rules right the first time. This will require continued communication among local school boards, NSBA, and the federal government.
In this regard, school boards may wish to consider the best strategies for using their stimulus funds. For example, Congress can’t be counted on to sustain these funding levels beyond two years. Therefore, it might be advisable to invest the stimulus funds in innovations, such as technology, upgraded course materials and instructional practices, professional development, data systems, or other systemic improvements to raise student achievement, rather than commit all of the funds to operational activities at levels that can’t be continued in the out years.
Further, since a key purpose of the stimulus is to inject funds into the economy as quickly as possible, state or local decisions to carry some of these funds over into the out years defeats the purpose -- and could place these funds at risk of being cut when Congress works on future appropriations bills.
While the stimulus program will raise short-term implementation challenges, as well as political battles with some governors and state lawmakers, we should not lose sight of the tremendous opportunity it provides to help school districts stave off serious funding cuts, as well as to move education forward in your communities.
Visit NSBA’s Stimulus Resource Center
For more information on the stimulus and how your district can benefit, visit NSBA’s new online Stimulus Resource Center. To access it, visit www.nsba.org/advocacy. Select “federal funding for education,” then look at the first item under “resources.”
The site includes final funding levels for education under the American Recovery Reinvestment Act, answers to frequently asked questions about the ARRA, fact sheets, a summary of NSBA’s actions to support the ARRA, a transcript of a CNN interview with NSBA Executive Director Anne L. Bryant, NSBA letters to Congress, and much more. Additional materials will be added.
Reproduced with permission from School Board News. Copyright © 2009, National School Boards Association. Opinions expressed in this newspaper do not necessarily reflect positions of NSBA. This article may be printed out and photocopied for individual or educational use, provided this copyright notice appears on each copy. This article may not be otherwise transmitted or reproduced in print or electronic form without the consent of the Publisher. For more information, call (703) 838-6789.