NORWICH – New York schools still don’t know for sure how much they will be receiving as a result of the Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act. The bill, signed by President Barack Obama last Tuesday, earmarked $10 billion to help the nation’s schools mitigate layoffs. $607 million of that total is due to come to New York, but state legislators have not yet met to determine how – or when – those funds will be allocated.
Wednesday, Assemblyman Cliff Crouch (R-Guilford) said he’d received “no indication” of when he and other lawmakers would be called back to Albany to make those decisions. They aren’t currently due to return to the state capital until the end of September or early October, to deal with other items.
“There is speculation it will happen before the election,” Crouch said, referring not to next month’s primary, but the general election in November. That timeline leaves little room for districts to reinstate positions before students return on Sept. 8, which is how federal lawmakers indicated they wanted the money to be used.
Crouch called timing of the legislation “troublesome,” as most schools have already determined student, staffing and class assignments for the upcoming semester.
As district’s struggle with the issue, there is some good news. On Monday, Oxford Superintendent Randy Squier told the Oxford board of education he had received details about the initiative which answer two of the biggest questions he and other school officials.
One of those questions is how the money can be spent, which, according to Squier, is on personnel related expenses to support instruction. That includes salaries, benefits and stipends.
The other bit of good news is that districts will have until August of 2012 to apply the funds.
“(It) does not have to be spend in the 2010-11 school year, nor can the state make us,” Squier explained. The district could therefore “bank” the $243,233 it is slated to receive – per unofficial numbers supplied by Senator Charles Schumer’s office – to mitigate whatever cuts it may have to impose next year. Or in the event of mid-year cuts to state aid, which are already being whispered about in Albany.
“I think I can speak for most of the superintendents in the state,” he said. “Once the federal check arrives, let’s just hold it to see what the state does.”
Crouch was pleased to hear New York’s districts would have more flexibility with the funds than originally anticipated.
“I’d much rather see them be able to spend this money next year,” he said, referring to the funding cliff schools will face when the previous federal stimulus package dries up.
But according to the assemblyman, these quick fixes aren’t the answer for solving the financial woes of New York’s educational institutions.
“We’ve been pushing for mandate reform,” he explained. According to Crouch, those mandates prevent schools from being creative and becoming more efficient in their operations “to offset the loss of state funds.”