Report: End of federal stimulus funding to trigger significant teacher layoffs nationwide

[Hannah Bell]

Federal stimulus money that helped school districts shore up programs and save jobs is running out and educators across the nation now must turn to layoffs and cuts to make up the shortfall, according to a new report.

Starting in June 2009, Congress set aside about $100 billion to provide a two-year cushion to school districts through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Many districts have spent all the money they received and are having to shut down programs and lay off employees, according to a report released today by the national, independent Center on Education Policy...

The report is based on a nationally representative sample of district-level administrators polled in the spring of 2010. It found that nearly 95 percent of the nation's school districts have received or have been promised funding from the state fiscal stabilization fund of the stimulus act. Districts with funding declines, such as those in California, are likely to face serious problems in the coming school year because much of the federal stabilization funding they have received already has been spent...

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_15516851?nclick_check=1


long hot winter