Recent stories on education and the stimulus plan

There were several interesting stories on the economic stimulus and the education funds it will provide to the states this week.  These are the ones we identified at the Scholastic Library for inclusion in our weekly newsletter.

An article in the Montgomery Advertiser looks at some issues with the stimulus funding.  School leaders disappointed by stimulus numbers reports that local school administrators had hoped the stimulus money would help save teacher jobs.  “Some aren't even certain that they will be able to rehire as many teachers as planned based on preliminary numbers showing their school districts' share of the $596.36 million in stimulus funds.”  And in some states, governors are looking for ways to use the funds targeted for education for other purposes.  States eye education stimulus to fill budget gaps, an article in Education Week, reported that “a growing number of states are filling in their budget gaps with stimulus money or, in another strategy, cutting the state share of education funding—thereby freeing up state dollars for other expenses—and filling in education budgets with stimulus aid.”  Education Secretary Arne Duncan promised to keep an eye on the situation.

The Associated Press reported that Stimulus dollars to be released to schools this week.  And a great deal of that funding is going to early childhood education, according to Stimulus providing big funding boost for early childhood (Education Week).  “While other education officials are weighing the risks of starting new programs with federal money that may dry up in two years, early-childhood programs are ramping up for expansion after years of being underfunded.”

The Washington Post posted both the video and the transcript of its interview with Arne Duncan, Duncan does the math on education budget.  “We're going to work very, very closely with those states, and we will give out over the next couple weeks billions of dollars. But we're going to keep billions of dollars here to really watch and monitor how states do in terms of implementing these reforms,” Duncan said.

And just for fun, we thought we'd include this cute video from JibJab, Talking Easter Eggs.