Flush with stimulus money, school districts are launching a host of new programs and services for disadvantaged children, everything from adding summer school sessions and buying computers to hiring social workers and training teachers in cultural diversity.
Lincoln Public Schools had no money to provide preschool for 600 children on a waiting list.
Then Congress and the Obama administration boosted Nebraska's Title I funding by 73 percent. The Lincoln district gets an extra $6.2 million — enough to add many programs, including three new preschool classrooms for 50 kids.
“Considering we're only serving about a hundred now, another 50 is tremendous growth,” said Deila Steiner, director of federal programs for the school district.
Nearly 200 districts across the state have similarly dusted off their wish lists to spend the additional $47.5 million earmarked for Title I programs. Iowa is receiving $51.5 million in stimulus funding for Title I, federal education aid that goes to schools with a high percentage of poor children.
The Nebraska money comes in addition to the federal stabilization funds that the Nebraska Legislature distributed to districts as a boost in state aid earlier this year. Schools also are getting a stimulus injection for special education.
The torrent of education funding from Washington has won praise from educators but raised some conservatives' concerns that it will drive up deficits and taxes.
When it was authorized over the winter, the Title I money came as a surprise to districts, and sent many scrambling to find ways to spend it.
The money is for new spending and cannot be used to take the place of existing Title I funding or to cut taxes. It must be spent over the next two years.
The U.S. Department of Education advised states to spend the money quickly to save and create jobs and focus on short-term investments with potential for long-term benefits to avoid a funding “cliff” when money returns to normal levels. Educators are encouraged to adopt innovative strategies to help at-risk students, close the achievement gap and stimulate the economy.
John McCollister, executive director of the Platte Institute for Economic Research, a conservative research organization that promotes limited government, said he was concerned that when the money runs out, taxpayers will have to cover the cost of the new programs.
“Let's hope we get a positive return on the $47.5 million investment,” McCollister said.
Because the money will end, some schools are limiting their purchases to interactive whiteboards, laptop computers, mobile computer labs, digital cameras, books, software and other classroom materials.
Some will use the money to train teachers. Those teachers, in turn, can then train others once the money is gone.
Some districts, such as Hastings Public Schools, are hiring new teachers. District officials there are well aware that when the money runs out, they will need to absorb the costs or cut them.
Superintendent Craig Kautz said his two new elementary school hires will help keep the student-to-teacher ratios at 20-1 or better in Title I schools.
“You can't let what might happen in two years keep you from helping kids now,” Kautz said.
Some districts are making it clear to new hires that their jobs come with no guarantees.
Papillion-La Vista's school board voted last week to add 3.5 teaching positions funded through the stimulus so other teachers can undergo intensive training. Superintendent Rick Black said the new teachers would be kept on the payroll after the money runs out, absorbed as the district grows.
School board member Patricia Conway Boyd voted against the hiring, saying it amounted to paying “soft money for hard positions.”
“I just think it's dangerous to use stimulus money for ongoing expenses,” she said.
The new money will allow Omaha Public Schools to target programs to an additional 13,000 students. Last school year, OPS's Title I money focused on 15,000 youngsters.
OPS, which gets the state's biggest allotment, will use some of its $21.1 million to train teachers to be “culturally proficient” and to teach in an urban setting.
“Many of the teachers that come out of our university system, college system, are not prepared to go into the urban classroom and to teach culturally diverse children,” said Dennis Pool, the district's assistant superintendent for general administration.
Overall, the district will focus the money on early childhood education, dropout prevention and teacher training, Pool said. Plans likely will involve extending the school year or school day and adding summer school sessions, he said.
Like Omaha, Lincoln Public Schools plan to use some of their $6.2 million for “cultural proficiency” training. For example, African-American fourth-grade boys struggle as a group in math. Teachers could be taught what to do from a cultural perspective to adjust teaching strategies to reach them, Steiner said.
Like the preschool program, the cultural proficiency training was on the Lincoln district's radar screen but lacked funding.
Several districts plan to launch “jump-start” summer school programs. Struggling students will attend several weeks of summer school before the fall semester as a refresher on the prior year's course work.
Millard Public Schools plan next year to hold a three-week summer session in which students will meet three hours a day, four days a week, to review literacy and math skills, to “get kids back in the groove,” said Carol Newton, the district's director of elementary education.
Many districts, including Ralston and Ogallala, will step up support for parents of low-income students.
Ralston plans to set up parent resource centers inside three Title I elementary schools, said Kristi Gibbs, the district's assistant superintendent for learning. Parents can use computers, attend parenting classes and get advice on behavior issues, healthy eating habits and bedtime routines for youngsters.
Nancy Armstrong, curriculum director for the Ogallala Public Schools, said their resource center probably will start by serving the parents of children 4 and under.
“We're going to have some nights in the fall where parents will come in and learn tips on reading out loud to their toddlers … and how important it is at that early age to begin an appreciation of words and language and the sound and the rhythm,” Armstrong said.
Parents of older children would learn how to complement the lessons their children are getting in class.
Contact the writer:
444-1077, joe.dejka@owh.com
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