Will,
I am hearing Massachusetts stands to gain $400m in new Stimulus funds this year specifically for keeping or hiring Teachers. I understand this is part of an amendment to the Iraq/Afghanistan funding Bill and should be voted on soon in the Senate. I know you always thought there would be another round of stimulus so my question is what could/should Arlington/Belmont expect in terms of one time funds should the bill pass?
PJ
Hi PJ,
There is stimulus money built in to Belmont’s state education aid (both general and special education), but that has long been assumed. I’m not aware of any new measure that will result in any additional funds.
We’ll double check though with some of the state people that monitors stimulus funding.
/w.
Will,
It is a $23B Educators Jobs Bill amendment being attached to the Wars Bill. It should come up in the Senate in the next 2 weeks and I am hearing from the MTA it means $400m for Massachusetts which is greater than the $387m they received in the last one. It would be helpful to know the amounts each city and Town could get if it passes.
WASHINGTON, May 19 (Reuters) – A leading Senator on education intends to attach $23 billion for public schools to a military spending bill that could come up for debate this week, his office said on Wednesday.
Iowa’s Tom Harkin, who chairs the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, introduced legislation this month to create an education fund modeled on the $40 billion state stabilization account in the economic stimulus plan passed last year.
It would be intended to stave off “a massive wave of layoffs in our schools and institutions of higher learning that could weaken our economic recovery and cause serious damage to our education system,” he said in a statement.
Similar legislation has passed the House of Representatives.
Thanks, PJ.
I’ve been able to find the same reports. I’m pretty skeptical — the timing of the funding really doesn’t work for school systems: By the time it is in place and allocated by states, most systems around the country will have made their staffing decisions. But we’ll run it down and try to assess it.
/w.
Here is the latest we have — it does appear to have some legs, however, my concerns about timing remain:
1. Tom Harkin has decided not to put his amendment in the Senate military spending bill because in surveying around he found that its inclusion might cause the whole bill to be defeated or held up.
2. The strategy then is, because the House already OK’d it, they will take the vote to have this amendment in the House version and then it will go to Conference where they are pretty sure they can hold on to the House version. Senator Kerry’s office will support it in Conference
3.There will be a press conference this Thursday at which Senator Kerry and others will make a public statement on this. They want to speed this up and get it to the President before the break. The president has said he will sign it.
Not sure where this money would go or whether any of it would reach my communities at all. My understanding is that this language is in an appropriations bill that could take a good long time to conference. I have no confidence that this will be available in the next six months.