Stimulus Funds Reach Area Schools

By Kathy Cleveland, Staff Writer
Hollis/Brookline Journal, New Hampshire
Friday, Novmeber 13, 2009

Those big American Recovery and Reinvestment Act signs on highways let people know that federal stimulus funds are being used for road repair.

But most of the money going to local towns is being spent with little fanfare in the schools, mostly on special education programs and for reading and math help for children from poor families.

Seven local towns – Amherst, Brookline, Hollis, Lyndeborough, Milford, Mont Vernon and Wilton – have thus far received $3 million in ARRA funds from the federal government.

A little less than half of the $952,427 received by Amherst and the $834,000 received by Hollis has gone for roadwork on Route 122.

But the rest of the federal funds disbursed across the region have gone toward education.

The grants for all the schools cover two years’ worth of expenses, and local administrators say they are not spending federal dollars on programs that require funding beyond two years.

“We don’t want to invest in a program that can’t be continued or supported after the two-year period,” Trevor Ebel, superintendent of the Wilton and Lyndeborough schools, told the Wilton-Lyndeborough Cooperative School Board last month.

SAU 41, which includes Hollis, Brookline and the Hollis/Brookline Cooperative School District, has not received any stimulus money.

“We’re not eligible for technology funding or Title 1, only funds for special education,” said Superintendent Susan Hodgdon, adding that school districts must advance the money and wait for a reimbursement.

Because the federal funds are on a two-year cycle, Hodgdon said, any special education services or positions paid for with federal money would be the district’s responsibility after two years.

“We have to put money up front with no guarantee, and the advice has been not to,” the superintendent said. “It’s been problematic.”

In Milford, most of the $894,285 in stimulus allocation is being used to help students with disabilities and those who need extra help in reading and math. Among other things, the money will pay for equipment, intervention programs and software, tracking student progress and teacher training.

And for the first time this year, the Milford School District is receiving some money – $5,193 – for homeless students, to help them with medical expenses and for transportation so they can stay in their original school while living outside the district.

Amherst and Mont Vernon schools are using their $535,959 education allocation for early intervention services and to train staff, from kindergarten through high school teachers, in differentiated instruction, a method intended to help all students learn, regardless of differences in ability.

Other Amherst-Mont Vernon funds will support students with disabilities, paying for vocational opportunities for high school students, the purchase of FM systems for students who are hearing impaired and an adaptive physical education program for the disabled.

Wilton and Lyndeborough school districts have received a total of $468, 562.

The federal money is being managed and distributed by the state’s Office of Economic Stimulus, created by Gov. John Lynch last January. The governor also appointed state Deputy Attorney General Orville “Bud” Fitch as director of the office.

The overall goals of the ARRA are to stimulate the economy in the short term and invest in education and other essential public services.

The state has an interactive map to let people follow stimulus spending in New Hampshire, and the link is www.nh.gov/recovery/map/ index.htm.

http://www.cabinet.com/hollisbrooklinejournal/hollisnews/430605-308/stimulus-funds-reach-area-schools.html

http://www.cabinet.com/cp/hollisbrooklinejournal

The Cabinet @ 2009