Schwarzenegger slapped on wrist by Congress for threatening education stimulus money

March 30, 2:55 PMEducation in the News ExaminerEricha Parks

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Obama made headlines when he announced his federal stimulus package, which includes education funding for the states. Sacramento has received federal stimulus money as follows: Title I money for underprivileged schools, a fund for Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA) and a Stabilization Fund.

The U.S. Department of Education has awarded governors an education Stabilization Fund of approximately $48.6 billion. The Stabilization Fund was intended to be distributed quickly to states, local education agencies (LEAs) and other entities in order to avert layoffs and create jobs.

IDEA, through the U.S. Department of Education, has awarded governors approximately $1.2 billion in this one-time bail out fund for disabled students. This money is intended to provide funds to state educational agencies (SEAs) and local educational agencies (LEAs) to help them ensure that children with disabilities, have access to a free appropriate public education. The money is designated to be distributed quickly to states, LEAs and other entities in order to avert layoffs and create jobs.

LEAs have already spent upwards of 5 times in excess of the usual federal IDEA money. The usual IDEA money covers only a fraction of the cost of maintaining disabled student programs.

The problem with the education stimulus money is all about the distribution. What has Governor Schwarzenegger been doing to make certain that the much needed bail out funds are distributed to local education agencies (school districts)? Shocking many lawmakers, Schwarzenegger seems to believe that he is entitled to use the federal bail out money allotted for schools to backfill an increasing budget deficit in Sacramento.

In fact, many California PTA charters have visited Sacramento to discuss distribution of these funds. However, according to my source, who has lobbied the Governor for distributions of these funds to the local education agencies, there is a lot of spin. She states that, "Most legislators mentioned that since California’s revenues where even lower than they anticipated ...it was likely that Sacramento would also keep the additional funding to backfill revenues." In essence, Sacramento was not likely willing to distribute the funds to the schools.

The Congress of the United States has warned Schwarzenegger to distribute the education funds. In a letter dated March 17, 2009 to Governor Schwarzenegger, Superintendent Jack O’Connell and Secretary of Education Glen W. Thomas, 26 Congressmen and Congresswomen were direct in instructing Schwarzenegger to allow local education agencies to decide how the money will be spent. The letter from The Congress of the United States read:

"We write to express our concern about a reported misunderstanding regarding who should decide how local education agencies spend State Fiscal Stabilization Funds allocated by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (federal stimulus aid). It has been suggested that the state has some ability to intercept the [stimulus] dollars. It does not – and it is the intent of Congress that local education agencies may determine how to spend that fund."

It appears that Congress is not the only frustrated party. On March 21, 2009, Barack Obama said that transparency will be a hallmark of his presidency. But following the money in the stimulus package won't be easy.

I contacted Arne Duncan, U.S. Department of Education, for a comment about Schwarzenegger’s belief that he can decide how the education funds are spent instead of the local education agencies. I was told by Mr. Duncan’s press secretary that this matter has become so confused that Arne Duncan will be holding a press conference about state's spending Stabilization Funds from the education fund, Wednesday at noon in Washington, D.C.

No word yet as to how Schwarzenegger’s special election of May 19 will impact the distribution. There are 6 new ballot measures scheduled for a special vote. Schwarzenegger has already stated that all unanticipated revenues would first be used to pay any outstanding obligations under proposition 98.