Posted on 01/27/2009 10:10:57 AM PST by buccaneer81
Columbus schools would get $110 million in stimulus funds Ohio's Boehner in center of wrangling over financial package Tuesday, January 27, 2009 9:42 AM By Jonathan Riskind and Catherine Candisky THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
WASHINGTON -- The massive economic stimulus package expected to be approved by the House Wednesday would pump more than $1.4 billion into Ohio public schools over the next two years.
Columbus Public Schools would receive about $110 million over the next two years as part of the $825 billion legislation that President Obama and House Democrats say will help revitalize the flagging economy, according to preliminary estimates by the Congressional Research Service.
House Democrats are touting the money which would be granted as additional funds to existing construction, special education and disadvantaged student programs as useful to both sparking work improving school facilities that would serve as an immediate economic boost to local communities and holding off budget cuts that could harm children and the economy in the long run.
Democratic Rep. Charlie Wilson of St. Clairsville, said a total of nearly $75 million in new money would be pumped into the 62 districts spanning his eastern Ohio 6th congressional district. There are 613 districts, statewide.
"The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has two purposes: to create jobs and to lay the foundation for future economic growth," Wilson said in a statement. "The investment that this plan is making in education accomplishes both of those goals. Building 21st Century classrooms is good for schools, good for jobs and good for every single one of our children who deserve a first-rate education."
Democrats were stressing the education spending as a key component of the stimulus package as a Republican lawmaker from Ohio takes on President Obama today on Capitol Hill over the massive stimulus package slated for a House vote Wednesday, Democrats are circulating figures showing how much local school districts would reap.
Democrats are circulating the figures showing how much of the billions set aside for federal education spending on disadvantaged students, special education and school modernization and construction would find its way to individual districts. A smaller suburban district such as Pickerington would get $2.1 million, for instance, the figures compiled by the Congressional Research Service show.
Federal education funding typically is a small part of the school funding total, less than 10 percent. But the money would be of great use to Columbus schools, said Jeff Warner, spokesman for that district.
For example, while Columbus schools just gained passage of a $123 million school construction bond levy, the House Democrats' infusion of nearly $46 million for 2009 for construction would not go to waste, Warner said. The district would have to study exactly how to direct that money, but there are far greater needs that exist as part of an ongoing, long-term construction master plan that could be met sooner with additional federal funding, he said.
Could the money be used relatively soon? "Absolutely," Warner said.
"It's something we would have to approach from a measured perspective," Warner said of the construction money . "The advantage we would have is our facilities master plan is in place. That would potentially enable us continue the program beyond what we expected" over the next two years.
For districts facing dire financial situations like South-Western Local Schools, the additional federal aid would help but not necessarily eliminate the need to ask local voters for a tax increase.
"We're hopeful that it comes to pass," said Sandy Nekoloff, spokeswoman for South-Western Local School District.
Under the House bill, South-Western would receive $16.3 million over the next two years.
At this point, however, the district is still moving forward with plans to place an operating levy on the May ballot.
The money to Ohio districts is divided up into funding for 2009 and 2010. All of the construction money is allocated for 2009, while money for Title I, a program for disadvantaged students, and special education increases is granted over two years. In addition to the nearly $46 million in construction money for 2009, Columbus, for instance, would receive a $21.3 million increase in Title I money in 2009 and 2010 and a combined increase of about $21.4 million for those two years in special education funding.
President Obama is meeting at this hour with congressional Republicans in an effort to sell the overall plan and listen to GOP concerns.
House Minority Leader John A. Boehner of West Chester will be a focal point in the debate over GOP concerns that the proposed $825 billion package contains too much ineffective spending and too little in the way of tax cuts.
A Congressional Budget Office analysis of the plan said that it would have a "noticeable impact" on the economy and on boosting employment, but it also fueled GOP arguments against the stimulus package when the report contended that only about two-thirds of the spending would actually flow into the economy in the coming year and a half.
Boehner has become perhaps the most visible and aggressive opponent of the stimulus package as it now stands, and has been requesting the meeting with Obama in an effort to persuade the president to endorse less and different spending and more tax cuts as part of the stimulus package.
Boehner said on a conservative radio show yesterday that Obama and congressional Democrats "seem to have the idea that we can borrow and spend our way back to prosperity. And I'm telling you, you know it won't work and most of your listeners know it won't work."
Boehner cites spending such as $21 million for "new sod on the National mall" or some $200 million set aside for birth-control-family planning initiatives as examples of spending he says won't act to spur the overall economy.
Boehner acknowledged the bill is likely to be approved by the House Wednesday in its current form, but said he is hoping Obama will help alter the package in the Senate. Boehner predicted most House Republicans won't vote for the measure Wednesday.
"Do I have any illusions that this bill will be good enough at the end of the day for me to vote for it? I have my doubts," Boehner told talk show host Sean Hannity. "But for the sake of our country, we need a bill that will work and if we're going to saddle our kids and grandkids and their kids with this debt, we ought to have a bill that will help bring jobs back to America and help keep jobs."
But House Democrats say the package will do plenty to help struggling states, school systems, homeowners and people afraid of losing their jobs. There is money in the bill to help stabilize state budgets grappling with rising Medicaid costs, they said, and money to launch infrastructure projects that are ready to go if the money starts flowing.
Dispatch staff reporter Mark Niquette contributed to this story.
Ohio ping!
The House Democrats’ stimulus package includes billions of dollars in increased funding over the next two years for school districts in the areas of programs for disadvantaged students, special education and school construction. Here is how much the bill would allocate, in preliminary estimates, to some central Ohio districts, above what they would get under current federal funding. The allocation is derived by using current federal formulas for each program.
Columbus Public Schools $110.1 million
Bexley $951,300
Canal Winchester $1 million
Delaware City $2.3 million
Dublin City $4.4 million
Gahanna-Jefferson $3.1 million
Grandview Heights $478,700
Groveport-Madison Local $4.7 million
Hamilton Local $1.9 million
Hilliard $5.4 million
Jonathan Alder $792,200
Licking Heights $554,300
Madison-Plains $709,100
New Albany-Plain $552,000
Olentangy Local $2.29 million
Pickerington Local $2.1 million
Reynoldsburg $3.3 million
South-Western $16.3 million
Teays Valley $1.4 million
Upper Arlington $1.6 million
Westerville $7.26 million
Whitehall $2.9 million
Worthington City $4 million
The National Endowment for the Arts is supposed to have $60 million in the STIMULUS package too.....swell....oh, and something like $200 million for climate change....
Columbus schools would get $110 million in stimulus funds (More Money Down a Black Hole)....
This is a trickle compared to the funding needed to shore up teacher’s pensions nationwide.
Yet, private schools keep humming right along...
Is this what it's going to cost in every state to rename a school after the Messiah?
Sounds like a plan to put Boehner over a barrel.
An authoritarian man like Obama with his Ayers mentors will have plenty of programs to oversee in the public schools, to assure building his power base.
The nazis knew if they got the children, they had the adults.
Ooopss....Rush just said it’s $400 million for Climate Change
When this economy comes crashing down, none of this is really going to matter. But still...
New Albany can fund their own schools! And, Worthington is supposed to get $4M??? I’m speechless.
Third in Ohio was Franklin at 150 nationally. Fourth was Delaware at 180-ish.
Maui County, Hawaii, was in the 700s. A $640,000 home pays property taxes of $650 dollars a year.
We are out of our minds here.
How about Upper Arlington? Now Hilliard I can almost understand. They got saddled with a ton of Mexicans and former project dwellers ( I used to be a Hilliard homeowner.)
I live in Georgia. Why are MY tax dollars going to build
new schools in Ohio?
“Maui County, Hawaii, was in the 700s. A $640,000 home pays property taxes of $650 dollars a year.”
OMG! That’s unbelievable. Clearly, our property taxes are used primarily to fund the schools. Knowing that the public schools are not going away anytime soon, we definitely need a different funding mechanism. To be honest, I’m not sure what that is but will be interested to hear what Strickland proposes. What do you think? I would accept a state school income tax if my property taxes were reduced. That way, everyone working at least participates in funding the schools. Obviously, those living in apartments with kids are not paying their share. The only problem with that is that even if property taxes were reduced they would eventually climb back up. Maybe you should pay more depending on the number of kids you have attending public schools??? Yeah, I know, that would never happen. I imagine the “solution” down the road will just mean more taxes out of my pocket.
I’m guessing that all states will be getting these funds. Still, the federal government is spending money that it doesn’t have.
“Now Hilliard I can almost understand. They got saddled with a ton of Mexicans and former project dwellers ( I used to be a Hilliard homeowner.)”
Where do most of the Mexicans in southwest Columbus attend school? I figured it was the Southwestern school district or Columbus. I pity those districts (including Hilliard) who have to pay for the education of the illegals’ children. I bet they are salivating at this renewed SCHIP program. No doubt the illegal alien lover Voinovich will have no problem with the lack of enforcement of citizenship status that the Democrats have put into the bill.
I agree. Call your Senators and Reps.
LOL, because georgia went for McCain 52-47.
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