St. Stanislaus School benefit, 9 to 4 in Kolbe Hall, Adams. Bake sale, snack bar, games, Chinese auctions, money raffle, crafts, and pierogi.
Blackinton Union Church, 1373 Massachusetts Ave., North Adams; 10 to 2. Crafts table, bake sale, Chinese auction, the Christmas table, and kid's grab bag. Lunch $4, $2 kids.
First Congregational Church, North Adams, 9-2.
Nov. 28 Becket Federated Church, Route 8, holiday bazaar from 9-3. Lunch, crafts, baked goods, holiday and other items. Information: Mary Peltier, Parish House, 413-623-5217.
Dec. 5
Holiday Fair at First Congregational Church, 25 Park Place, Lee, from 10 to 3; handcrafted items, raffles, children's shop, bake sale, cut Christmas trees and lunch from 11 to 1. Includes angel-themed goods from SERRV. Information, 413-243-1033 or www.ucc-lee.org.
Dec. 12-13
North Adams Country Club, crafts 9-4; food from That's a Wrap from 11-2. Information: Sheryl Morehouse at 413-822-3329.
Planning a bazaar this season? Submit information to info@iberkshires.com to have it listed here.
We're trying out blogs to offer shorter, easy-to-find news. Let us know what you think.
Send press releases and announcements to info@iberkshires.com. Need to contact someone at iBerkshires? Here's how.
Mammography Dispute The government's issued controversial new guidelines stating that women shouldn't get annual mammograms until age 50, rather than age 40.
iBerkshires will be meeting with local medical experts Monday. Have a question you'd like answered on this issue? Send it info@iberkshires.com with "mammogram" in the subject line.
Berkshire School Districts Await Stimulus Windfall
By Noah Hoffenberg iBerkshires Correspondent 06:35AM / Friday, February 20, 2009
ADAMS, Mass. — Berkshire County schools are slated to receive an estimated $8 million in federal stimulus aid, but when that money will arrive and its allowable uses remain unclear, according to the commonwealth's commissioner of education.
The money comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which President Obama signed on Tuesday in Colorado. The ARRA, the latest stimulus act, will provide billions of dollars in an attempt to boost the national economy, in addition to providing billions to pump up school systems across the country.
The act allots $13 billion in Title 1 funding, which provides for the poorest students, and $11.3 billion in IDEA funding, which is for students with disabilities. It also provides for school construction and modernization tax credits with $24.8 billion, as well as a $53.6 billion for state stabilization funds, of which the Bay State's use will be determined by Gov. Deval Patrick.
When the funding will come, however, is unclear, said Mitchell D. Chester, state commissioner of education, in a memorandum sent to Bay State superintendents and charter school chiefs Tuesday.
In some cases, the money could be used immediately, Chester said. Some funds won't be available until fiscal years 2010 and 2011. Questions also linger as to whether the money must stay in Title 1 and IDEA programs, or if it can be shuffled to other areas of need in schools.
"Much needs to be done before we can make commitments to your districts for a specific amount of funds under any of these programs," Chester wrote. "But I expect that we will be answering most of these questions over the next week or two."
While an answer on the specific allocations hangs in the balance, so too do school budgets, which are now being ironed out all across the Berkshires. One such district that's planning next year's spending is Adams-Cheshire Regional, which is due to receive about $706,000 in stimulus money. (See estimates for all Berkshire districts below.)
Superintendent Alfred W. Skrocki said he usually presents a preliminary budget to the School Committee by the end of February. But because the stimulus money hasn't come yet, and because the uses for it and final tallies haven't been nailed down, Skrocki won't present a final budget draft to the committee until March 19, just shy of the March 23 deadline to adopt a school budget.
"We're still trying to find out the details in the distribution and if substitutions and supplanting are allowed," Skrocki said Thursday. The committee will see the preliminary numbers on March 5 and 12, he said. In the meantime, Skrocki is crafting a level services budget, attempting to maintain the programs, projects and personnel that sprang from this year’s $18.6 million total budget.
"At best, it will be a level services budget, and more realistically, less than that," said Skrocki. With inflation, expected flat state aid, dropping charter school reimbursements, among other costs, Skrocki is expecting a $1.4 million gap just to keep services as they are.
As such, the realization of stimulus money "could help to an extent," said Skrocki. He's adopting a wait-and-see stance, which the state education commissioner in his memo advised state school leaders to do.
If the money does come, Skrocki will look at possibly restoring some of the aide positions that were cut a year ago because of a tight budget, among other restorations. Last year's cuts followed a tough fiscal 2002, when 21 teachers and 33 aides were let go because the district couldn't afford to keep them on staff.
"It's been six years of keeping our heads above water," Skrocki said.
Estimated School Aid
School District
Title 1
IDEA
Total
ADAMS-CHESHIRE
$209,000
$498,000
$706,000
BERKSHIRE HILLS
$107,000
$407,000
$513,000
CENTRAL BERKSHIRE
$138,000
$600,000
$739,000
CLARKSBURG
$25,000
$70,000
$95,000
FLORIDA
$8,000
$31,000
$39,000
HANCOCK
$ -
$27,000
$27,000
LANESBOROUGH
$14,000
$64,000
$78,000
LEE
$59,000
$224,000
$283,000
LENOX
$72,000
$197,000
$270,000
MOUNT GREYLOCK
$32,000
$157,000
$189,000
MOUNT WASHINGTON
$ -
$3,000
$3,000
NEW ASHFORD
$ -
$10,000
$10,000
NORTH ADAMS
$655,000
$664,000
$1,319,000
PITTSFIELD
$1,014,000
$1,867,000
$2,881,000
SAVOY
$13,000
$31,000
$43,000
SOUTHERN BERKSHIRE
$64,000
$275,000
$339,000
WILLIAMSTOWN
$23,000
$114,000
$137,000
Total estimate:
$8,034,000
SOURCE: Congressional Research Service, Feb. 13 figures
