BOSTON—High-poverty Massachusetts schools will be receiving $163 million as part of the second phase of federal stimulus money for education, Gov. Deval Patrick announced Thursday.
The distribution of funds among districts was based on the proportion of low-income students in the district’s total population, said Jonathan Palumbo, spokesperson for Patrick’s office. Districts can decide how to use the money as long as they meet certain requirements, such as saving teaching jobs, said Palumbo.
“If we want to build sustainability into the school system, maintain the level of services and make progress towards the goal of student achievement at all levels, the government made the case that we needed to do everything we could that education was properly funded,” he said.
Massachusetts will receive a total of $1.88 billion in stimulus money for education over the next two years, said Palumbo. The funds announced last week are being dispersed under Title 1, a 40-year-old federal program for low-income school districts, he said. Schools will receive the first half in July and the second half in the fall.
Massachusetts schools have never received this much government funding before, said Colleen Coburn, policy advisor for Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry. The inclusion of education in the stimulus package is due in part to advocacy from politicians like Sen. Kerry and Gov. Patrick, she said.
“The money through the Recovery Act just going out now is more that has gone to education in almost every single category in the entire last year combined,” said Coburn.
The stimulus package also breaks new ground in transparency, because schools have to apply for the funds, specify their use and report how they were allocated on a set timeline, said Coburn.
“People think the federal government is just sending out checks,” said Coburn. “A goal of the [Obama] administration is to hold people more accountable and make transactions transparent. We want all this to be public information.”
The first round of stimulus money was for state stabilization, and the federal government mandated that 82 percent of these funds go to education to meet district budget gaps, said Coburn. The state could decide how the remaining 18 percent will be spent on government services. Boston Public Schools did not receive funds in the first round, said Coburn.
The third and final round of federal education funding will be allocated for special needs education under the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), she said.
Boston Public Schools will receive about $20.8 million in Title 1 stimulus funds, which is $3.8 million more than Superintendent Carol Johnson expected when she approved the 2010 budget last month, said Chris Horan, spokesperson for the district. In that budget, Johnson recommended areas that could use additional funding if BPS received more money, he said.
Johnson’s recommendations included $1.4 million for students with disabilities, because BPS did not receive enough IDEA funds, said Horan. The federal government requires the rest of the money to be split evenly between protecting teaching jobs and investments such as textbooks and teacher training, he said.
Horan said Mayor Thomas Menino promised to restore all teaching positions if the Boston Teachers Union agrees to a one-year wage freeze, which would save the district an estimated $30 million.
Wage freezes have already saved 200 jobs, and continued negotiations with unions to freeze wages are likely to save most teaching jobs, said Coburn.
Springfield Public School District is receiving $8.6 billion from Title 1, the most of any district in Massachusetts other than Boston, according to the Massachusetts State website. Worcester is next, receiving $3.9 billion. Holyoke and Lawrence are receiving $3.1 million each.
Schools must remember to budget each lump sum for the next two fiscal years, said Coburn. In addition, a district’s financial status may change from year to year and receive more or less funding through Title 1, she said.
“A lot of people think all the money should go into schools now, but in reality, the government is anticipating a gap,” said Coburn. “What schools need is going to be even bigger a year from now.”
Because federal stimulus money from the Recovery and Reinvestment Act has not been distributed yet, the stimulus package’s success is still unmeasured, said Cindy Roy, spokesperson for the Massachusetts Office of Administration and Finance. Massachusetts must track every dollar being spent to show taxpayers where there money is going, she said.
“It’s a $700 billion bill. It is going to be complicated,” said Roy. “But were communicating with the federal government, they’re communicating with us … as we get further into the process it, will get easier for everybody.”
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