New York

Buffalo

Buffalo City Public Schools will use ARRA stimulus funding to prevent layoffs, with approximately 376 full-time classroom positions funded through the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF). This number includes kindergarten teachers, teacher aides, and teacher assistants. In addition, SFSFs will be used to pay the hourly salaries of district school bus aides, totaling 424 FTE positions.

The district will commit Title I stimulus dollars to professional development through the Professional Development Academy, which will offer teachers in Title I schools some 48 hours of professional development during the school year, with topics based on an individual data analysis of each school’s needs. The district will also use this funding to support the data system used to track student achievement and teacher effectiveness, as well as to conduct research on the success of district Title I programs and interventions.

Additional ARRA funds earmarked for professional development will be allocated to pay summer and after-school teachers for professional development; to promote curriculum development; and to provide teacher center oversight. Funds will also be available for educational speakers; online courses for teachers; grants to attend professional learning conferences; and technology loan programs for classrooms, which cover instructional supplies, software, and online resources.

ARRA funding will focus on supporting student achievement through several different initiatives, including after-school programs targeted to schools in need, such as those identified for school improvement, corrective action, and restructuring. These programs will be held two days a week for students in grades 3-8. The districts will also work to meet the needs of ninth-grade students through an after-school academic intervention services program, which will be held four days a week in Title I schools.

ARRA funding will be used to support an evaluation of the district’s English language orientation program (ELOP), as well as its Title I program—both conducted by the University of Buffalo. ARRA funds for Title I will also be used by the Buffalo Public Schools to support a parent university designed to help parents act as full partners in their child’s education. Buffalo’s parent universities will equip parents with the skills and knowledge that foster parent engagement and promote student success.

IDEA funds available under ARRA will be used to support approximately 62 full-time staff positions. The majority of these positions will be counselors, but the positions will also include literacy coaches, reading support teachers, social workers, and student support team/committee on special education chairs, among others. IDEA funding will also support the night school credit-recovery program, Response to Intervention programs, culturally responsive teaching consultants, and services for students at risk of special education identification. The district will also use ARRA funds for individualized education program (IEP) auditors, literacy and math instruction for students with disabilities, and positive behavioral support training and consulting.

IDEA funds for the education of preschool children will be put to good use in Buffalo Public Schools, as well, supporting three full-time speech teachers for early childhood centers, along with testing supplies and materials for preschool and kindergarten special education placements.

The district has also targeted ARRA resources for some of Buffalo’s neediest students. McKinney Vento Funds will fund a community education leader, and will provide transportation, education, and the supplies needed for programs supporting homeless families. These resources will include funding teacher salaries for homeless student tutoring, staff supplies, and “Rights and Resource” education for the parent university course for homeless families. ARRA funding will also be used to purchase school supplies, including school uniforms, for homeless students. In addition, these dollars will augment the district nurse travel fund, which supports visits to shelters where homeless students live and will help to cover the costs of staff travel to homeless education conferences and of homeless student emergency bus transportation, which provides service to after-school programs and shelters.

The child nutrition funding under ARRA will also benefit the district, allowing Buffalo Public Schools to update its food service equipment in 11 city schools, as well as to purchase a food processor and salad bar, steamer, and kettle for schools with specific needs.

New York City

Stimulus funding under ARRA will help New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) weather the economic crisis. Much of the stabilization funding will be used to offset state budget cuts and to prevent layoffs and keep teachers in classrooms. These actions will enable the district to continue the innovations and reforms that it has undertaken in recent years and shield students, schools, and classrooms from potential harm. Other stimulus funding will be used to support dual certification for teachers of English language learners (ELLs); hire additional teachers for the city’s small-school initiative; integrate disparate data systems; and implement a college preparedness initiative with the City University of New York.

Because of the severity of the budget situation in New York City, the district has developed an active process in anticipation of stimulus support. Each potential new grant works through a collaborative process to ensure that NYCDOE can maximize the impact on student outcomes, optimize the funding opportunities, and ensure compliance with funding rules and regulations. After the scope of the opportunity is identified, the district planning process will include consulting with stakeholders; developing a proposal; identifying outcome measures; coordinating work with other agencies and the City; determining budget, staffing, and sustainability; and informing the district’s tracking, reporting, and financial controls.

Funds available to NYCDOE under ARRA for Title I will be allocated almost entirely to schools in order to continue innovative programs at risk of being reduced significantly due to state budget cuts. A portion of Title I funds may also be used to expand successful programs into additional Title I-eligible schools. The district is also prioritizing ARRA funding under the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund to save jobs that otherwise would be cut due to non-federal budget shortfalls.

NYCDOE will use IDEA stimulus funds to pay the costs of related services for students with disabilities, as well as to support collaborative team-teaching needs. The district is also looking into using IDEA funding to expand early intervention services to assist students who have not been identified as needing special education or related services, but who could benefit from additional academic and behavioral support in order to succeed in a general education environment.

NYCDOE is also pursuing a number of competitive grants available through the stimulus legislation. The district offered support to higher education partners, the eligible entities for Teacher Quality Partnerships, to develop and expand quality teacher residency programs. NYCDOE is working in collaboration with the Mayor’s Office as part of a citywide effort to win a competitive broadband technology grant. The district is also seeking assistance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture under the school lunch kitchen equipment assistance program. NYCDOE’s infrastructure team has identified needed upgrades and coordinated an application for 312 schools that will benefit from ARRA assistance in this area.

Rochester

Despite the availability of federal stimulus funding, Rochester City School District has projected it will fall $13 million short of its proposed budget of $699 million. Before the federal stimulus was announced, the district reported a $61 million structural deficit that would have resulted in the possible elimination of 500 to 550 positions, as well as in extensive cuts in its programs. This deficit may continue in the future due to flattened revenue and increasing costs for salaries, benefits, and other expenditures.

Rochester City School District will use Title I funding under ARRA to save 89 jobs, improve student performance through school reform efforts, and ensure transparency, reporting, and accountability. Title I funding will help to improve student performance by focusing on dropout prevention at the school level; paying the salaries of intervention and primary-project paraprofessionals; and paying for Strong Start, an academic and social enrichment program for kindergarten, first- and second-grade students identified as needing additional support. ARRA dollars will also be used to fund professional development incentives to provide support for teachers in Title I schools, as well as to fund parent involvement activities designed to increase family and community engagement in the schools. The stimulus money will also be used to pay FTE library media specialists in elementary schools.

The district will also use Title I funds to expand expeditionary learning programs, which emphasize high achievement through active learning, character growth, and teamwork. These programs teach academic subjects through a challenging set of related real-world projects. In addition, the district will use Title I funds to develop an early college high school program that provides college credits and a higher education “head start” to high school juniors and seniors. The district intends to draw on Title I funds, as well, to implement a national math benchmark testing program, as well as to pay for data dashboards that will allow the district to distill large volumes of academic data into a usable and accessible format.

The district will use IDEA funding from ARRA to save 74 jobs in special education, both directly and through the 50 percent Maintenance of Effort allowance. The district will also use this funding source to pay for positive behavior supports and a work experience program. In addition, the district will use money from IDEA early childhood grants to collect and analyze data; to fund “recognition and response” programs that identify young children who may be at risk for developing learning difficulties; to create a parents’ literacy lending library; and to continue Committee on Preschool Special Education support for annual reviews.

State Fiscal Stabilization Funds received by Rochester City School District will enable the district to save 23 jobs and ensure the equitable distribution of highly qualified teachers. The district will also use Stabilization dollars to restore a number of important district projects, including interventions in low-performing schools, teacher professional development, and programs that provide intern and teacher-mentors with release time and supplies. Stabilization funds will enable the district to support initiatives, such as the literacy charter schools (called Freedom Schools), expeditionary learning schools, and Montessori learning. Similarly, these funds will help to pay for instructional technology; positive behavioral supports; school safety programs; extended-day, gateway-to-college, and summer programs—all high on the district’s list of priorities. In addition, the district will use stimulus funds to restore money that had been cut from the budget to pay for administrator and central-office staff, the Great Beginnings family development center, art and music programs, social workers and psychologists, and academic data systems.

In addition to the main sources of funding, Rochester City School District will use other ARRA funds to support additional district efforts. For example, it will purchase new food service equipment with money from the child nutrition kitchen equipment grant and use McKinney-Vento funds to meet the demands of the district’s education program for homeless children.

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Observer-Dispatch,  Last update Feb 15, 2010 @ 12:27 AM

Federal stimulus money may have only provided a one year reprieve for school districts.

The federal stimulus, designed to make up for cuts in state aid, shored up 595 jobs in Oneida and Herkimer counties last year, according to a report from the state Education Department.

But with the money quickly drying up, administrators are looking at major cuts for the next school year.

While the stimulus money was supposed to be available for two years, in New York, about one-third of what was set aside for schools for next year has already been spent.

Of the $1.2 billion set aside for the 2010-11 year, the state has already used more than $359 million to balance the current budget.

“Stimulus money was really a lifesaver for school districts facing a number of layoffs last year,” said Dave Albert, director of communications and research for the New York State School Boards Association. “But that money is going to go away and school districts are going find themselves in a very difficult situation.

Districts primarily saved jobs with “stabilization” money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed through the state to shore up cuts in aid. Title I money was also given to districts for programs for low-income students and IDEA funds were given for programs for students with disabilities.

The ARRA aimed to stanch the fiscal bleeding and let schools concentrate on educating students. But the other two sources of funding came with the caveat that the money only be used for new programs or positions.

“At the very least, the stimulus gave districts some time to prepare for what is coming,” Albert said.

Staffing cuts likely

As for area schools, officials said their districts were saved last year with the stimulus money.

“Without that money, we would have been forced into significant cuts,” said Camden Central School District Superintendent Dr. Jeffrey Bryant.

Camden used the money to save an estimated 30 positions and created four new positions, according to the state data.

But this year, the district may have to cut people. Camden was planning to receive $1.3 million in stimulus money for the next school year, but Bryant said the district has been told to expect only $649,000.

Utica Superintendent James Willis said his district saved 61 positions and created 73, though many of the new positions remain unfilled.

“Some of those positions may last two years, some may be six months and some may not be filled at all,” he said. “What the state has been doing with the stimulus money is just bizarre and we can’t count on the money getting to us.”

When the Utica district created new positions it did so with the caveat that if the money dried up, the positions would be cut.

School board vice president Louis LaPolla said when people were hired using the stimulus money, they had to sign a form acknowledging that they know their position is funded with temporary money and when the money is gone, so are they.

LaPolla said he will fight to ensure that happens.

“My fear is that many of these positions will just be absorbed by the district,” he said. “We cannot make up the difference with general operating funds.”

Willis said that will not happen and said the district is already considering major staffing cuts for next year.

‘Postponing the inevitable’

In Rome, Superintendent Jeffrey Simons said the state report inflates the number of jobs saved. The report says 75 jobs, but Simons said that before the district received the stimulus money, it was preparing to cut 25 positions.

Simons said the district is still reviewing next year’s proposed budget to see how it will cut spending, but at this point he said there is a gap of millions in spending and revenue.
“Reliance on federal stimulus money is postponing the inevitable,” Simons said. “School districts are not going to be able to absorb the positions maintained through the federal stimulus money.”

School funding is only expected to get tighter in the foreseeable future. Officials are now regularly referring to the “funding cliff” for the 2011-2012 school year, when all of the stimulus money will be gone.

For the next fiscal year, state projections showed a $6.8 billion deficit, followed by a $14.8 billion gap the following year when federal stimulus aid runs out, and $19.5 billion the next year, when temporary increases in the state’s top income tax rates expire.

“This is just a preview of what is going to happen in the 2011-2012 school year,” Bryant said. “When all the federal stimulus money runs out, we’re going to be at the edge of a very pronounced cliff.”