Friday News Roundup: Week of March 16-20

At Ed Money Watch, we discuss and analyze major issues affecting education funding. In our Friday News Roundup, we try to highlight interesting stories that might otherwise get overlooked. These stories emphasize how federal and state policy changes can affect local schools and districts.

Unexpected Consequences from Stimulus Funds in Connecticut

Florida Community Colleges Struggle to Meet Demand

Nevada Requests Higher Ed Spending Waiver

Governor Corzine Keeps School Funding in Budget

Unexpected Consequences from Stimulus Funds in Connecticut
Connecticut educators warned on Tuesday that strings tied to stimulus dollars may require schools to launch new summer and after-school programs while cutting existing programs and laying off teachers. The state is eligible for $243 million in stimulus funds for innovative new services for low-income and special education students. However, funds can only be used to provide new services and programs, rather than fill in funding holes for existing programs. State officials are seeking further guidance from the U.S. Department of Education on whether the funds can also go toward existing programs for the low-income and special education students that these funds are intended to help. More here.

Florida Community Colleges Struggle to Meet Demand
As Florida students face tightening budgets, both at home and at state universities where freshman enrollment caps mean more rejection letters, they are turning to community colleges for higher education in large numbers. Increasing enrollment – up 25,284 across 28 colleges around the state – threatens the state’s community college system’s longstanding tradition of open enrollment. Though the colleges do not plan to impose enrollment caps or sort students by GPA, administrators worry that enrolled students won’t be able to sign up for the classes they want. Tuition increases are also likely even though college presidents are asking Governor Charlie Crist to spare community colleges when determining where to make cuts in the state budget. They argue that they provide necessary training that will help students re-enter the workforce in areas like health care, public safety, and technology – all sectors where job openings persist despite the economic downturn. Legislators say the community colleges will likely be affected by budget cuts. More here.

Nevada Requests Higher Ed Spending Waiver
On Wednesday, Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons requested a waiver from the Secretary of Education that would allow the state to collect stimulus funds for K-12 purposes without maintaining or increasing state expenditures for higher education purposes. At stake is $396 million for education. The state is only eligible for these funds if it spends as much this year on K-12 and higher education as it did in 2006. Under the current budget, the state has met the K-12 spending requirement but is short $286 million for higher ed spending. In his letter to U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Gibbons argues that the state is in crisis and the $396 million for K-12 is necessary to eliminate cuts to teacher pay and other education cuts. Gibbons claims that the bill’s maintenance of effort provision is “arcane” and represents a “usurpation of states’ rights by the federal government.” More here.

New Jersey Governor Corzine Keeps School Funding in Budget
Last year, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine increased funding for school districts where property taxes were high but school spending was low. The districts were able to hold down class sizes while simultaneously decreasing property taxes. In the toughening economic climate, these districts are worried that the funding gains made last year will be reversed due to budget cuts. However, Governor Corzine’s proposed budget increases aid to schools by $300 million, primarily concentrated in the same set of districts. The budget also includes some money for preschool services – maintaining funding for existing programs and proposing $25 million toward the state’s planned preschool expansion. More here.

Briefly Noted

• States must use caution when spending federal stimulus dollars for IDEA.
• Private education foundations feeling the pinch.
• Oakland school board sues over charter funds.