Augusta area school systems could receive tens of millions of dollars from the recently approved federal stimulus package, but the exact amount remains uncertain, officials said Thursday.
"Now that something has been approved we know money will be coming," Georgia Department of Education spokesman Dana Tofig said. "There are still a lot of questions. It's a huge amount of money."
The stimulus legislation allots money to each state for education, but it's up to each state how that money is divvied up, said Jane Brodsky, a spokeswoman for congressman John Barrow.
There are several estimates floating around about how much each school system will receive, Mr. Tofig said, and those estimates are probably fairly accurate.
Augusta-area counties could receive nearly $85 million in additional education funding by the 2010 budget cycle, according to an analysis by the Congressional Research Service.
That includes in excess of $19 million for Richmond County construction this year alone.
Most of the funding will be given specifically for construction, to economically disadvantaged children under Title I and to children with special needs through IDEA, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
Georgia will also receive education funding from the stimulus package that can be used at the governor's discretion, Mr. Tofig said.
The state is expected to receive $420.4 million for Title I, $331.7 million for IDEA and $1.26 billion in what is called a "state fiscal stabilization fund education block grant" for fiscal years 2009 to 2011, Ms. Brodsky said.
When Georgia officials receive the stimulus funding, it likely won't be distributed immediately, Mr. Tofig said.
"We are going to take the time we have to to distribute the money according to the rules," he said, and those rules haven't been handed down to states.
"We know our local school systems want to see the money as fast as they can, and we want to send the money to our local school systems as fast as we can," he said.
Reach Greg Gelpi at (706) 828-3851 or greg.gelpi@augustachronicle.com.
FUNDING ESTIMATES
Local school systems will benefit financially from the economic stimulus package, but just how much is unknown.
Here are some of the projected estimates:
| School system | Two-year total |
| Aiken County | $22,327,300 |
| Burke County | $5,261,900 |
| Columbia County | $7,059,700 |
| McDuffie County | $3,414,800 |
| Richmond County | $46,810,300 |
Source: U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor
Comments
Does the economic stimulus package contain a mechanism for determining the efficacy of expended funds? How will the USDOE and the GDOE determine whether or not these funds will have positively impacted student learning? Or do the "Bob Youngs" and educrats of these two governmental bureaucracies care?
in the meantime, columbia county, with over $25 million in reserve funds, is laying off teachers left and right - no administrators - and still considering silly renovations such as a new gym floor at greenbrier h.s. how about the co-athletic director position (paid the exact same salary as the a.d. at high schools), which was created last summer so that coach grooms didn't lose any of his pay when he was "punished" for cheating? how many curriculum coordinators with executive secretaries does the boe need (the same coordinators who can't seem to do anything except create more work for teachers - NEVER any improvements)? are the instructional extension teachers (for students with low scores on standardized tests, a full-time teacher tutors during one of their connections periods) going to be retained? how much new furniture does the board office need this year? are we now happy that tommy price got a an extra year's pay to "advise" us? did we really need to build another middle school - and an EXTRAVAGANT one by any measure - in columbia county? it never ends....
Bone, now you and I know that coach grooms didn't CHEAT. Mistakes were made- in only one football game and in no fewer than one practice leading up to the one game Why, if he had CHEATED- and taught our kids to cheat, too, we both know that the fine, upstanding admins at LHS and officers of the school's athletic association would certainly have recommended his termination from employment with the CCBOE.
May the RCBOE and CCBOE levy SPLOSTs?
Aferr reading the article, I am under the impression this money is for renovation and construction and has nothing to do with salaries. Are I correct? If CC would zone equally and not let one school sit with 1200 students and another sit with 700, extra schools would not be necessary. TO cut programs at one school because of size is unfair to those students who are zoned for the smaller school. Equalize the school sizes regardless of who is being rezoned from Greenbriar. This may improve test scores across the county!
CC is a good county but their zoning is really something..
Let's think a little bit. In this severe economic downturn we suddenly come up with tens of millions for school districts all over the country when these same districts can't pay their bills? Something tells me this euphoria will be short lived. Where do you think the money comes from? Thin air is the answer. I suspect in a year or so when Weimar Republic-like inflation and strict government control kick in, these school districts will be worse than they are now. Try paying bills with income from property taxes that is a fraction of the value when it was budgeted. Imagine how wonderful the world would be if all we had to do was print money to build magnificent structures. We are all going to learn, it just doesn't work that way.
Voters in counties all over the country have indicated their preferences for spending money on local education systems and the resultant, how much they would pay in taxes. With the stimulus package to local school districts, suddenly tens of millions in funding shows up. Who do you think is going to have to pay for all this? These same local taxpayers is the answer. The stimulus package rides roughshod over the wishes of local voters and in a liberal Democratic mandate decides how local schools will be funded. Notice Richmond Cty gets $47 million for construction when we all know that system is losing students. Dr. Bedden is talking of closing schools. Also, notice that Richmond Cty gets about seven times as much as Columbia Cty. Federal gifts equal more control and more taxes for those who work hard and pay the bills. Wait until you see the requirements attached to these “gifts” that will cause property taxes to increase to unheard of levels for many years to come.
The scary part is that these dollars will ultimately be managed by the GA Dept of Education, one of the most disfunctional agencies that exists statewide! There needs to be a "house cleaning" in the Twin Towers starting the State superintendent.
one step closer to total federal government rule. socialism anyone? hell...communism is 20 years away. the reason the schools have no money is the fault of the federal government. so why a bailout? to make the schools even more reliant on federal $$. and this is only the beginning.
you people thought bush was a bad president. see how you feel in two years about this idiot.
The laws of economics have already doomed this porkulus "plan." Riverman is right--there is only one way out of this mess now and it is rapid inflation. Why is it that people insist on a gov't spending philosophy of multi-trillion dollar deficits when we know from personal experience that you can't spend more than you make and get by (for long)? If the gov't runs short, they'll just print more dollars, thus devaluing the ones we have. There is no such thing as a free lunch--a lesson that we're due to learn the hard way.
Well, since the kids are the ones who will eventually pay for this "stimulus" law through high taxes, at least they ought to get the money.
The kids are not the ones that will get the money. THe money is earmarked for construction and renovations- not classroom supplies or teacher salaries. Do we need more schools- no. What we have can be renovated to meet the needs. We need frugile planning and strategic measures to improve student achievement. You can start that by realizing not all children learn the same and teach so the children can comprehend. Buildings do not educate- teachers do- give them the money to make students successful.
Folks it's just the beginning all of this money is going to be [filtered word] away...and in a couple of years everyone is going to say what happened?.......If left alone the economy will adjust and fix itself...this pouring of taxpayers monies is just pelosi and her puppet barry's idea of "redistributing the wealth"...I for one will not pay any taxes until these socialist pigs kicked out......
You know if everyone who disagrees with this socialist administration would refuse to pay taxes..........and refuse to spend a dime over what they need we could possibly show the idiot in the White House THAT WE ARE MAD AS HELL AND WERE NOT GOING TO TAKE IT!
If this money is being sent to the school districts, why does it have to flwo through the State BOE? What are they going to do- skim off the top?
wise...they won't just skim off the top...they'er going to be double dipping all the way to the bottom....................................
Wise Ole Man is right. The money will not be used for teacher salaries or other instructional uses. But some of it WILL be used for salaries at the head office, i.e., some bureacrat jobs will be added to MANAGE the construction and renovation projects. Sweet! If you are related to a BOE employee and if you have taken a project management course at Augusta Tech, you could be chosen for a BOE project management job!
A fair definition of insanity is repeating the SAME BEHAVIOR OVER AND OVER AGAIN then expecting DIFFERENT RESULTS. The federal government has repeatedly poured more & more money into public education and the results (BY ANY STANDARDS OR BAROMETERS) continue to worsen year after year. Any rational intelligent and honest person would conclude those who perpetuate this system either are so ignorant to the point of stupidity or genuinely have a hatred for the children of this once great country. Not only has the intellectual output of our school systems declined steadily vis a vis the other industrialized nations but the moral integrity of our children has been retarded, compromised and attacked to the point of a necessity for armed guards in the schools..There are 2 basic groups that will deny this and they put me and mine in a dwindling (and now tiny) minority..those marxist who relish the decline of our republic founded on Christian principles & those lazy selfish parents who dont have the GENUINE LOVE for their children to remove them from this cesspool called public education & support existing private schools and start new ones...
I live in Columbia County and, practically speaking, I'm in favor of public schools in a good school system. However, if I lived in a county with a poor school system, I wouldn't be so happy. When you consider the public schools over the state, it's easy to be negative overall. Jeff Hubbard, president of the Georgia Assoc. of Educators said, "Vouchers are undemocratic. Every child has the right to attend a great public school. It's unconscionable to make a political point that some use school vouchers to declare winner and losers among Georgia's children." That reeks of socialism and keeping all kids the same. Puke.
Still don't see how this stimulates anything.
That's a lot of money for RCBOE to mismanage!
ccboe has lost their vision. all about looks and substance is wearing thin. we care about the kids?! let's use that reserve and keep teachers that actually care. parents, attend board meetings...make your voice heard. stop the over-the-top construction.
The Augusta Chronicle ©2012. All Rights Reserved.
