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Federal Stimulus
June 8, 2009
School board creates 18 new positions with stimulus money
The Austin school board on Monday created about 18 new positions using federal stimulus money meant for low income schools.
The move is the first step of a $20.7 million plan for using new Title 1 federal stimulus dollars that district officials said could save an estimated 166 jobs and create another 63 over the next two years. Another $17.3 million in federal money is expected for special education programs.
The new employees would staff new and enhanced English language instruction, dropout prevention, social service, a twilight school and pre-school literacy programs. Another $655,000 would be spent on service contracts with outside groups to help implement parts of the plan.
The plan was approved despite the current districtwide hiring freeze — implemented to reduce what is expected to be as much as a $45 million budget deficit this year.
District officials said incoming superintendent Meria Carstarphen, provided input into the plan. The idea was to focus on creating jobs that would focus on staff development in the hope of fostering long-term improvements. The proposal also included resources to ensure that the programs could be monitored for their effectiveness.
Proposals for the money included:
$1.3 million to ensure Title 1 funding levels, which were expected to go down in 2010-09, are maintained.
$4.5 million to continue funding district’s full-day Pre-K program in 2010-11, which could lose state support.
$8.4 million for new programs for English Language Learners, middle school students, students at-risk of dropping out and specialized academies and programs at various low income schools.
Ann Smisko, the district’s assistant superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction, said district officials are still determining exactly what goals they would expect to achieve with the money and exactly how many students they would serve.
“We do need to much more detailed work on that but that would be our next step.,” she said.
Various programs that just missed the cut for now included a proposal for a young men’s leadership academy, dual language and elementary school literacy, but district officials said that Carstarphen supported the programs and the district would continue to look for other ways to fund them.
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