Education department must clear hurdles to get funds
COEUR d'ALENE - It appears some wrinkles need to be ironed out before anyone can say for sure if Idaho's K-12 schools will be eligible for the $51 million dangling before them since Tuesday, when President Barack Obama signed a $26 billion federal jobs bill into law.
The bill includes $10 billion the U.S. Department of Education projects will save 161,000 K-12 positions nationwide, including 900 in Idaho.
"It appears we have a challenge in that the legislation includes a maintenance of effort piece," said Sen. John Goedde, R-Coeur d'Alene.
What that means, Goedde said, is that before a state is deemed eligible for the funds, it will have to show it has done its share in trying to keep education whole.
For this bill, Goedde said, that applies to K-12 and higher education.
"Higher ed took a blood bath in this last budget cycle," said Goedde, chair of Idaho's Senate Education Committee.
The state's four-year colleges and universities lost $36 million from their general fund for this fiscal year.
"It appears we have to find state money to bolster our higher education budget before we're eligible," Goedde said. "I don't know if that means a special session, or if the governor will be able to speak for the Legislature and say we'll fix that in the next regular session."
An interesting twist, Goedde said, is that the Education Jobs Fund money cannot be applied to higher education jobs.
Idaho Department of Education spokeswoman Melissa McGrath said her agency is waiting for the U.S. Department of Education's official guidance for this funding, due for release today, along with applications the states must complete by Sept. 9.
The money is expected to be distributed to states within 45 days, and school districts will have two years to spend it.
The intent of the funding is to restore jobs for this school year, but districts will be able to reserve the money for use during the 2011-12 fiscal year, if they choose.
Allowable uses for the funds are more specific. The money can be used to pay for school-level personnel - teachers, principals, assistant principals, paraprofessionals, bus drivers, food service personnel, school nurses, counselors and librarians. It cannot be used for district-level administrative costs or personnel, higher education or rainy day funds.
Most Idaho districts have already completed contract negotiations with their teachers, and balanced their budgets for the current fiscal year by furloughing paid work days from the contract year, reducing salaries and eliminating vacant positions.
The Coeur d'Alene School District's contract with its teachers includes six furlough days, which saved the district $1.2 million and reduced annual pay for district employees by 3.2 percent.
Steve Briggs, the district's chief financial officer, said their plan includes a provision to offset furlough days if additional funding becomes available.
"Anything that we get that provides us with some opportunities to improve our situation, we're grateful for it. Ultimately, it serves students," Briggs said.
Idaho Superintendent of Instruction Tom Luna's priority is maintaining the highest level of student-teacher contact hours possible, McGrath said.
That should be done by rehiring instructional staff or classroom aids, or by restoring instructional days that have been furloughed.
"After those priorities, Superintendent Luna has told districts they should look at their budgets and consider using some of that money for fiscal year 2011-12," McGrath said.
It will be another challenging fiscal year because the current state education budget includes $38 million in one-time money, federal stimulus and stabilization fund dollars.
With the $20 million Idaho education officials estimate they will need to handle growth next year, McGrath said, "We'll need about $60 million just to keep the budget flat."