“We are pleased that $2.56 billion in preliminary entitlements of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has been released for California schools. These funds from the federal stimulus package are designed to help local school districts prevent further layoffs of teachers and education support professionals, and to continue the important progress we have made with our students. We certainly hope the funds will be used for this purpose, the way President Barack Obama intended.
“These funds come at a time when our schools rank 47th in per-pupil funding and more than 27,000 layoff notices have been issued to educators. At times, eliminating a teacher means eliminating an entire music, art or sports program from a school and robbing students of a well-rounded education. When an educator is laid off, it is the students who suffer.
“Federal stimulus dollars have already begun to reach local districts and should be used to rehire educators, which will help keep class sizes from soaring and more programs from being eliminated. While the funds will not prevent the devastating budget cuts that will occur should California voters fail to approve Propositions 1A-1F on May 19, they will save many of the educators and programs on which California students depend.”
More about federal stimulus dollars for California school districts, use this link: http://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/aa/ar/