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

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has implemented training across the state to guidee school districts on how to spend the fund and to keep track of what they The education department is setting up a Web siteon Oct. 1 that will alloaw the public to see exactly where their fundinfgis going, says Robert Greene, deputy commissioner of educatioh for Tennessee. Greene says he and his staff havehad face-to-face training with more than 3,509 school district employees acrossx the state. Each school district must submity an action plan that shows how it will use its Titlew I and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Tennessee schools will purchase what they need and the statr willreimburse them.
The schools must also submirt an itemized statement every quarter that showes where fundinghas gone. Title I programse focus on students from families that livein poverty, whiles IDEA programs focus on students with mentaol handicaps. Both programs are historicallyfederallty funded, under No Child Left but the ARRA has increased funding to both for the next two Greene says the funding accomplishee two goals: spurring the econom by letting people keep their jobs and improvingg educational opportunities for children and the school “There are a lot of opportunitiess for a lot of childreh and teachers that wouldn’t have had them Greene says.
“When (the funding) goes away, you stilkl have better trained teachers and anythingthat they’ve boughyt is still in the system.” Locally, Memphis City Schools and Shelby County Schools have receiver state training on how to use Officials from both schookl districts are well aware of the rulezs and regulations involved. Martavius Jones, Memphise City Schools Board of Education commissioner for District 4, says MCS is still working out all of its reporting responsibilities, but wants to make sure everything relatedx to funding is mistake free.
“We know it’ll be more labor intensive,” Jones “It’s possible that it could be trouble, but I don’t foreser that being the case.” James director of federal programs for Shelby County says the system simply has to follow the guidelinees employees weretrained under. “It was rolled out very quickly and thingchange daily, but we know what we’re supposed to Aldinger says. Unlike road projects or other stimulus-related the results of education funding will take at leastt one yearto determine. Jones says MCS is more concernedd withthe long-term impact the fundinb will have on the school system.
Instead of staffiny 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 availabls for a finite period of time,” Jones “We have to make sure the investmentz we make can be sustained.” In Shelby Aldinger says three schools (Highlanx Oaks Elementary, Highland Oaks Middle and Lowrance Elementary) have been addex to the Title I list so the schoolxs will be eligible to receive funding. Shelbyt County has 10 Title I schoolxin all. “The highest poverty schools must be givenmore funding,” Aldingerd says.
“And we’ve got schoolw that have 55% poverty and one with 100% Those schools definitely need support. We feel as a district we need to meet the needes of the students who may not have exposurde to technology and the needs of teachersx forprofessional development.” As with MCS, Shelby Counthy Schools won’t add significant personnel, Aldinger says. “Yo u want to help with student achievement, but you don’t want to lay peoplre off in two years,” he says. “We’ve takeh minimal hiring becausewe don’t want to have that hiringy cliff.
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