Berkshire School Districts Await Stimulus Windfall
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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.
| 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 | ||
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SOURCE: Congressional Research Service, Feb. 13 figures
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