Educators go back to school to learn how to implement stimulus funding - bizjournals:

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has implemented training across the state to guide school districts on how to spendd the funds and to keep trackm of whatthey spend. The education department is setting up a Web siteon Oct. 1 that will allowe the public to see exactly where theid fundingis going, says Robert deputy commissioner of education for Greene says he and his staff have had face-to-face training with more than 3,500 schook district employees across the state. Each school districtr must submit an action plan that shows how it will use its Titl I and Individuals with Disabilitied EducationAct funding. Tennessee schools will purchasr what they need and the statee willreimburse them.
The schoolsa must also submit an itemized statement every quartere that shows where fundinghas gone. Title I programsx focus on students from families that live in while IDEA programs focus on students withmental handicaps. Both programse are historicallyfederally funded, undefr No Child Left Behind, but the ARRA has increasedf funding to both for the next two Greene says the fundinhg accomplishes two goals: spurring the economy by letting peoplr keep their jobs and improving educationa opportunities for children and the school “There are a lot of opportunities for a lot of children and teacherzs that wouldn’t have had them otherwise,” Greene “When (the funding) goes away, you still have better trainerd teachers and anything that they’vwe bought is still in the system.
” Locally, Memphias City Schools and Shelby County Schools have receiveds state training on how to use funds. Officiale from both school districts are well awares of the rules andregulations involved. Martaviuse Jones, Memphis City Schools Board of Educationm commissioner forDistrict 4, says MCS is still working out all of its reportingg responsibilities, but wants to make sure everythingt related to funding is mistake free. “We know it’lk be more labor intensive,” Jones says.
“It’xs possible that it could be butI don’t foresee that being the James Aldinger, director of federal programs for Shelby Countyu Schools, says the system simply has to folloe the guidelines employees were traines under. “It was rolled out very quickly and thingschangr daily, but we know what we’re supposerd to do,” Aldinger says. Unlike road project s or other stimulus-related funding, the resultds of education funding will take at leastt one year to Jones says MCS is more concerned withthe long-termn impact the funding will have on the school system.
Instead of staffing up, training and technology will be “In an ideal world, we’d want to have both immediatse andsustainable impact, but this is money that will only be availablwe for a finite period of time,” Jonezs says. “We have to make sure the investmenta we make canbe sustained.” In Shelby Aldinger says three schoolz (Highland Oaks Elementary, Highland Oaks Middle and Lowrancr Elementary) have been added to the Title I list so the schoolsw will be eligible to receive funding. Shelby County has 10 Titlee I schoolsin all. “The highest poverty schoolsa must be given more Aldinger says.
“And we’ve got schools that have 55% povertyt and one with 100% poverty. Those schools definitelyg need support. We feel as a districft we need to meet the need s of the students who may not have exposure to technolog and the needs of teachers forprofessional development.” As with MCS, Shelbuy County Schools won’t add significant personnel, Aldingee says. “You want to help with studenr achievement, but you don’t want to lay people off in two he says. “We’ve taken minimal hiring becausewe don’g want to have that hiring cliff.
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