Collectively, we should be increasingly alarmed about the education portion of the ARRA. ????States have begun to file their applications for the first big batch (~$33 billion) of stabilization funds.
First, although the application requires the governor to sign assurances promising to make progress in four areas, remarkably, it requires neither a plan for accomplishing those goals nor details on how these billions of dollars will be spent. ????The states that have applied so far have obliged, including none of this relevant information in their packages.
Second, the Department sent a letter to states on April 1 saying that states don't have to demonstrate progress on the assurances to get the second batch (~$16 billion) of stabilization funds. ????They only have to have systems in place to collect data.
Third, governors lack the power to require districts to use these funds wisely. ????From the guidance released in April:
III-D-14.???? May a Governor or State education agency (SEA) limit how an LEA uses its Education Stabilization funds?No.???? Because the amount of Education Stabilization funding that an LEA receives is determined strictly on the basis of formulae and the ARRA gives LEAs considerable flexibility over the use of these funds, neither the Governor nor the SEA may mandate how an LEA will or will not use the funds.
Finally, the only leverage the Department seems to have is threatening to make states ineligible for Race to the Top funds if this money isn't wisely spent. ????But states, not districts, are the only eligible applicants for the Race to the Top funds, and, as the guidance makes clear, states can't force districts to behave. ????So the threat is misdirected.
So in total, the federal government is sending nearly $50 billion in SFSF funding to districts without requiring details of how the money will be spent or how goals will be met; without requiring that progress be made; without empowering governors or state chiefs to ensure wise use of funds; and without federal leverage to ensure wise use of funds.
If I'm off-base here, someone from the Department, please let me know. Otherwise, alarms ought to be going off.
And if anyone thinks I'm playing Chicken Little, consider that the Kentucky Department of Education just made $2 million of ARRA available for school kitchen equipment.