State Applications For Education Stimulus Funds Lagging

With the July 1 deadline approaching rapidly, Education Secretary Arne Duncan reports that only 22 of the 50 states have applied for their shares of the $48.6 billion state fiscal stabilization fund designed to save teacher jobs across the nation. Only a total of $13 billion has been distributed to 13 different states, though the Education Department stood ready to dole out as much as $32.4 billion of the money by April 1 this year. Secretary Duncan says his staff can review and approve applications in nine days, but the state paperwork has not even been submitted by 28 states as of yesterday. You would think states wanting to avoid teacher layoffs when school starts in the fall would have deposited these checks already.

House Committee Approves $20 Billion Green Schools Initiative

Making up for the deletion of an important program which had been originally included in the Obama administration's economic stimulus legislation, Wednesday the House Education and Labor Committee voted out a bill appropriating $20 billion over the next five years for construction to improve the energy efficiency of school buildings across the country. On a largely party line vote of 31-14, the panel passed the construction program for improving safety, health and energy efficiency of public school buildings, with $6.4 billion to be spent in fiscal 2010. According to Education and Labor Chairman George Miller, "This legislation presents us with a vital opportunity to help boost student achievement, enhance teachers' effectiveness, generate savings for schools and create good jobs, all at once."