http://ednews.org/articles/for-schools-use-of-stimulus-money-falls-short-of-big-hopes-.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-07-07-stimulus_N.htm
It seems as though the good intentions of the government to stimulate the economy has fallen short as state governments are simply using stimulus funds to fill gaps and holes in their budgets. In the world of education, it is every more apparent. Nothing hits closer to home for me than the drastic cuts Governor Sonny Perdue is making in Georgia. Instead of using the federal money available to the state to support the educational system and fund long awaiting expansions in state education, the legislature has pared back education spending levels to pre-2005, which goes against the rules for using the federal stimulus money. My wife has taken 3 unpaid furlough days that are being spread out over 6 pay periods and I am taking 3 furlough days with each furlough being taken out of the pay period the day falls in. So she will be seeing $50 less every month until December, while I will see almost $200 taken out this month and being a late hire this past year will see an already reduced check, reduced even more because of the lack of consistency and faithfullness of our governing body to take action. The money given to education in the stimulus package was meant to save jobs and save programs in danger of falling through because of lack of funding, instead money has been diverted to fill large deficits that governors don't want to have. It saddens me to see such little emphasis on education and the funding of it in the state of Georgia, yet when national figures are released and Georgia sits near the bottom of the 52 states and territories in terms of graduation rates and testing, there is uproar from citizens and the local governments. Little to no money in the state has been used to save the cuts that were made in educational employees at the end of last year and has now allowed the state of Georgia to not honor the contracts we signed to work for 190 days at XXXXX amount of dollars.
Despite this, almost all road projects and other "job-generating" projects are underway and other areas of state and national concern are still waiting on money. The easiest way to stop these things are to join professional organizations that put lobbyists in our legislators ears that can make a difference. As a member of 2 Tech Ed organizations, I know that my rights and opinions are being taken into account and members of the state and national legislatures are trying to fight for teachers at various levels who are being neglected because of the economic downturn.
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Maine’s Department of Education has used the money to support their contribution to local school districts. An additional concern is what will happen after the stimulus money disappears in 2 years? Voters have to approve or disapprove local school budgets in Maine; this year many school budgets were voted down and the districts had to revise the budget until voters approved. I’m afraid that many more schools will have to cut programs and positions in the near future.
ReplyDeleteLast year we, local union, were approached about furlough days with the threat of cutting positions. We expressed that we would not take furlough days voluntarily. How is it that you were forced into it?
The governor suggested it strongly because of a 1 billion dollar budget gap, the State Superintendent wrote a waiver for counties not to honor our contracts and enable them to furlough us without our approval (we have no union) and we couldn't do anything about it.
ReplyDeleteIf you read my post at http://vcsugrad.blogspot.com/2009/09/new-year-schools-back-in-session.html you'll find that California is under similar if not more dramatic changes in mismanagement of tax payer dollars. Just to sum it up, our district that consists of 30 teachers K-8 at one small rural school in the San Joaquin Valley, cut a few teachers an increased class sizes from 25 to 35 over the summer vacation. The teachers in K-4 still have reduced class sizes of 20 or less. Grades 5-8 now have the 35 across the board and twice the workload that 25 student dynamics.
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