By KRISTI E. SWARTZ
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Friday, April 24, 2009
Two education groups want Gov. Sonny Perdue to spend an additional $178 million in stimulus money now, but he plans to hold it for upcoming school budgets.
The Georgia School Funding Association and the Atlanta-based Southern Education Foundation said Friday the state appears not to be tapping into all of the available money from the federal State Fiscal Stabilization Fund. The money is designed to help restore state-cut funding, especially to public schools and colleges.
Joe Martin, executive director of the school funding association, said in a letter to the state Board of Education that there is “no compelling reason to delay the receipt and use of these funds” to ease the effect of cuts made by the Legislature for the rest of fiscal 2009.
Perdue spokesman Bert Brantley said it is more prudent to use the money during fiscal 2010 and 2011 instead of in 2009 because the school year is almost over. Also, using the money later will help in case the economic turnaround is slower than expected, he said. The governor plans to request the money early in the fiscal year, which begins July 1, but the funds will be distributed regularly throughout the year, Brantley said.
“No money is being left on the table,” Brantley said. “It’s just a matter of … how do you apply it in terms of offsetting cuts and not leaving a big hole in the future that would be harder to fill.”
Georgia received its first batch of Fiscal Stabilization Fund money last month. The second is expected in the fall. To get the second part, states must explain how they will improve education in several areas, such as teacher quality and academic standards and exams.
On Tuesday the state Board of Education will vote on how to apply stimulus money that will help schools in several areas, such as homeless students, special education (IDEA) and low-income students (Title I).
Monday, April 27, 2009
State of Georgia Under-Funds K-12 Schools and Higher Education In Allocating Federal Funds in Violation of the Recovery Act
The Georgia General Assembly failed to adequately reduce cuts in education funding by under-utilizing available federal funds in violation of the national Recovery Act, according to a report released today by the Southern Education Foundation (SEF).
The SEF report calculates that the Georgia legislature cut state funding for education in the final 2009 and 2010 budgets during its recent regular session by a combined total of $1.05 billion even after allocating $666.5 million in Recovery Act funds to K-12 schools and public colleges and universities. But, the legislature had as much as $844.7 million available from the Recovery Act to allocate to reduce the state's education shortfalls.
“In effect, the State of Georgia has left on the table a minimum of $178.2 million in Recovery Act funds that should be used now to reduce school cutbacks at a time when the State has enacted severe cuts that will impair or prevent many of Georgia’s schoolchildren from receiving an adequate education,” the SEF report states.The Recovery Act requires states to use available “stabilization” funds as much as possible to restore education funding to the levels in their 2008 or original 2009 state budgets, whichever was higher. The State of Georgia has failed to do so.
SEF has written to US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan requesting that his department "assist and assure the State of Georgia" complies with the federal law. "Georgia is walking down the wrong path," stated SEF President Lynn Huntley who also is asking US Attorney General Eric Holder to cooperate with the Education Secretary in assuring enforcement of the Act's provisions.
SEF calculates that, to be in compliance with federal law, the State of Georgia should allocate approximately $119 million in additional Recovery Act funds to K-12 education, $47.7 million to the state's public four-year colleges and universities, and an addition of $10.9 million to the two-year colleges.
The SEF report calculates that the Georgia legislature cut state funding for education in the final 2009 and 2010 budgets during its recent regular session by a combined total of $1.05 billion even after allocating $666.5 million in Recovery Act funds to K-12 schools and public colleges and universities. But, the legislature had as much as $844.7 million available from the Recovery Act to allocate to reduce the state's education shortfalls.
“In effect, the State of Georgia has left on the table a minimum of $178.2 million in Recovery Act funds that should be used now to reduce school cutbacks at a time when the State has enacted severe cuts that will impair or prevent many of Georgia’s schoolchildren from receiving an adequate education,” the SEF report states.The Recovery Act requires states to use available “stabilization” funds as much as possible to restore education funding to the levels in their 2008 or original 2009 state budgets, whichever was higher. The State of Georgia has failed to do so.
SEF has written to US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan requesting that his department "assist and assure the State of Georgia" complies with the federal law. "Georgia is walking down the wrong path," stated SEF President Lynn Huntley who also is asking US Attorney General Eric Holder to cooperate with the Education Secretary in assuring enforcement of the Act's provisions.
SEF calculates that, to be in compliance with federal law, the State of Georgia should allocate approximately $119 million in additional Recovery Act funds to K-12 education, $47.7 million to the state's public four-year colleges and universities, and an addition of $10.9 million to the two-year colleges.
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