As state education officials seek guidance and get answers from the U.S. Department of Education about how to use new federal stimulus funds, their direction to local school administrators -- who must apply for the money and monitor its usage -- is evolving.

Commissioner of Education Mark McQuillan told CEA staff on May 4, “We met with school superintendents back on March 17th when the information was not as complete as it is today. In the past six weeks, we have received a great deal more specifics from Washington.”

McQuillan and his staff say they believe it’s a good idea for CEA staff to sit down with local school administrators to develop ways to maximize the new federal money, including identifying ways to save teachers’ jobs.

“Two minds are better than one for sure,” said Associate Commissioner Marion Martinez. Martinez has developed a “white paper” for local school district that she says should stimulate creative thinking for local school district officials, so they can maximize the funding opportunities that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Stimulus Package provides.

Commissioner McQuillan said there’s tension in administering ARRA. “We want to distribute money quickly to save jobs. But we also have to provide assurances to the federal government that locals will emphasize innovation and reform in ways they use the money. That’s the conflict.”

The biggest chunk of ARRA funding, $542 million, has been earmarked for local school districts with the Education Cost Sharing (ECS) Grant being the mechanism to distribute the funds. “It is inviolate. Municipalities can’t take this money from school boards. It is the law,” asserted McQuillan.

Education Commissioner Mark McQuillan

At the CEA informational session on May 4, SDE staff went through the rules, requirements and flexibility associated with new IDEA and Title 1 funds for local school districts.

Special Education Chief Anne Louise Thompson said local school districts should not miss the chances they now have to free up special education money for a long list of non-special education purposes. Thompson said the law is clear: “If an LEA maintains (or exceeds) its level of local, or state and local, expenditures for special education and related services from year to year (in this case 2008-09 to 2009-2010), either in total or per capita, then the IDEA funds are, in fact, supplementing those local, or state and local, expenditures and the LEA has met its maintenance of effort and supplement/not supplant requirements. If a local school district does maintain (or exceed) its level of local, or state and local, expenditures for special education and related services the district can, by an amount equal to 50 percent of the increase to their IDEA funds, decrease their local special education/related services expenditures, and use that same amount of local funds for activities allowable under ESEA."

Thompson has three specific strategies that school boards can use to free up money, for a variety of purposes, including saving teacher jobs. 

Special Education Chief Anne Louise Thompson

Barbara Westwater, SDE chief of Curriculum and Instruction, is handling Title 1 fund ARRA implementation. She said under ARRA, her program is less flexible than IDEA. She said freeing up money in connection with new Title 1 money will require extensive documentation.

Chief of Curriculum & Instruction Barbara Westwater

Westwater emphasizes that waiver provisions in ARRA provide added opportunities for local school districts. She says there appears to be more flexibility for districts in seeking waivers than in trying to provide the extensive documentation that ARRA requires.

Chief of Curriculum & Instruction Barbara Westwater

If local school districts want to save jobs, there’s urgency facing them because applications for the IDEA funds are on a tight timeline.

SDE officials want Connecticut citizens to understand the vast funding opportunities in ARRA. On May 19th, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Hamden High School, they are holding an information session for PTOs, advocacy groups, and non-profits in order to turn up the volume about what’s possible with the new ARRA funds to save teacher jobs and improve public education.