Massachusetts Governor offers $168m to education
Posted on March 19th, 2009 in Education | Comments Off
School districts in Massachusetts would win a timely $168 million infusion of federal stimulus money under a plan Governor Deval Patrick announced today, offering some degree of relief to local schools that are preparing plans for teacher layoffs, program cuts, and school closings.
While state and local education officials do not know whether the money will be enough to counteract the deep effects of the historic recession, which continues to erode the taxes used to pay for public education, it represents a rare financial windfall for municipalities.
The money would go to 166 school districts that are in danger of slipping below state set minimums for education spending because of the recession. Local officials will not be able to use the money to offset the effects of hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts to general local aid that pays for other municipal services.
Patrick has the power to allocate the federal stimulus money, but because state education funding involves complicated formulas, he will have to work with the Legislature to build consensus for his plan. The money to be announced today will supplement school operating budgets, which are typically supported by state aid and local property taxes.
Patrick, who has had to significantly scale back his plans for education improvement, made education funding a major focus of his lobbying during several trips to Washington and multiple phone conversations with congressional leaders. He contends that the federal government should consider education as much of a priority as other components of the stimulus package, such as infrastructure improvements and income tax breaks.
President Obama personally called Patrick last month to thank him for his work in securing education funds in the final federal legislation, according to administration officials, and the approach to including education funding was referred to on at least one conference call from the White House as the "Patrick-Doyle Amendment," referring to Patrick and Governor Jim Doyle of Wisconsin.
Read the full story in the Boston Globe here.
While state and local education officials do not know whether the money will be enough to counteract the deep effects of the historic recession, which continues to erode the taxes used to pay for public education, it represents a rare financial windfall for municipalities.
The money would go to 166 school districts that are in danger of slipping below state set minimums for education spending because of the recession. Local officials will not be able to use the money to offset the effects of hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts to general local aid that pays for other municipal services.
Patrick has the power to allocate the federal stimulus money, but because state education funding involves complicated formulas, he will have to work with the Legislature to build consensus for his plan. The money to be announced today will supplement school operating budgets, which are typically supported by state aid and local property taxes.
Patrick, who has had to significantly scale back his plans for education improvement, made education funding a major focus of his lobbying during several trips to Washington and multiple phone conversations with congressional leaders. He contends that the federal government should consider education as much of a priority as other components of the stimulus package, such as infrastructure improvements and income tax breaks.
President Obama personally called Patrick last month to thank him for his work in securing education funds in the final federal legislation, according to administration officials, and the approach to including education funding was referred to on at least one conference call from the White House as the "Patrick-Doyle Amendment," referring to Patrick and Governor Jim Doyle of Wisconsin.
Read the full story in the Boston Globe here.
