The Washington Post reports??that Loudoun County, Virginia, is using the federal stimulus funds intended for schools to prop up its county budget:
After hearing that an initial batch of $11.8 million in federal funds would soon arrive in Loudoun County, supervisors slashed $7.3 million from the schools budget. They also made clear that if more federal recovery money flows to schools, schools might be asked to give back an equal amount of county dollars.
In the same article, we're reminded that Secretary Duncan has warned against this kind of "shell game":
"Where we see a state or district operating in bad faith or doing something counter to the president's intent, we're going to come down like a ton of bricks," Duncan said in a March conference call with reporters.
He didn't say "county", of course--this situation is surely complicated by Duncan's lack of direct power over Loudoun County and its purse strings. But he'd better do something before a thousand other counties follow suit.
Update (4:00 pm):??Michele McNeil's terrific Ed Week article??a few weeks back highlights this problem, primarily at the state level - she found potential shell games brewing in California, Rhode Island, Ohio, Kansas, Hawaii, and Idaho. And I won't be surprised if there are 44 more examples of this out there.
