By Andrew Hellpap
newseditor@ themonroetimes.com
MONROE - The money school districts receive from the federal government can be a blessing, but they can also come with a few headaches.
For the 2009-10 school year the Monroe school district was awarded federal money earmarked for different programs such as $285,090 for Title I, which is a reading and math program for elementary schools that qualify based on the number of students who participate in the free or reduced price lunch program, said Ron Olson, district business manager. In Monroe, that includes Parkside Elementary School and Abraham Lincoln Accelerated Learning Academy.
Other amounts for district programs include, $90,727 for Title II, which is teacher and staff development; $2,000 for IID, for technology equipment and staff development; $7,525 for Safe and Drug Free Schools Act; and $7,833 for the English language learner program, he said. The schools also received extra federal money for the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDA), which includes the preschool level.
The federal money provides needed income to support the programs, but it comes with a few strings, Olson said.
"We are happy to have the stimulus dollars and they will help education," he said.
Each year the district spends about $22,000 to perform an audit on its previous year's budget. This year, with an influx of federal money, Olson has had to pay the auditors an extra $4,000 and they needed to spend nine days performing their work compared to the usual five to six because for each program that receives federal money an audit needs to be done. Beyond the money the district typically receives and the extra funds for the IDA, Monroe received three payments from the federal stimulus in 2009. The Title I program was given $169,784, IDA received $595,574 and $28,158 went to the preschool IDA program.
In addition to the audits, the stimulus money provides another obstacle for the district's accounting department, Olson said. The federal government requires the money must be used for specific programs, which means it can't be used to fix other budget shortfalls.
This creates a budget problem because prior to the added stimulus the district already received in 2009, it had been awarded $601,393 in federal money for the IDA program, and $20,611 at the preschool level, Olson said.
It becomes difficult because there are only so many ways to spend money on the same program, he said.
The district also received $955,643 in federal money that the state government secured for jobs funding. The reporting and auditing of this program is a little more difficult, Olson said, because it involves predicting what the money will be used for. Each district will have to generate a quarterly report on jobs saved by the money.
The money Monroe received was actually substituted for a portion of state aid the district was given so it could be applied to the general budget rather than one specific budget area, like other stimulus money. The district used the federal money to cover half the elementary staff time, Olson said.
Recently, the district was awarded another $450,000 in federal money for education jobs based on the state's shared aid formula - one district actually received only $5.
The added money for this year may be a blessing because there is discussion the state may rework its current bi-ennial budget reducing the amount of state aid each school district will receive. The district must be careful because federal money does come with rules, and some may not be completely known for a few months, Olson said. But, the district is seeking to offset any possible reduction in state aid with the fresh round of federal money.
"We are a little cautious on that, but we are hoping this will give us a chance to reduce some of the reduction in state aid we are anticipating," he said.
newseditor@ themonroetimes.com
MONROE - The money school districts receive from the federal government can be a blessing, but they can also come with a few headaches.
For the 2009-10 school year the Monroe school district was awarded federal money earmarked for different programs such as $285,090 for Title I, which is a reading and math program for elementary schools that qualify based on the number of students who participate in the free or reduced price lunch program, said Ron Olson, district business manager. In Monroe, that includes Parkside Elementary School and Abraham Lincoln Accelerated Learning Academy.
Other amounts for district programs include, $90,727 for Title II, which is teacher and staff development; $2,000 for IID, for technology equipment and staff development; $7,525 for Safe and Drug Free Schools Act; and $7,833 for the English language learner program, he said. The schools also received extra federal money for the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDA), which includes the preschool level.
The federal money provides needed income to support the programs, but it comes with a few strings, Olson said.
"We are happy to have the stimulus dollars and they will help education," he said.
Each year the district spends about $22,000 to perform an audit on its previous year's budget. This year, with an influx of federal money, Olson has had to pay the auditors an extra $4,000 and they needed to spend nine days performing their work compared to the usual five to six because for each program that receives federal money an audit needs to be done. Beyond the money the district typically receives and the extra funds for the IDA, Monroe received three payments from the federal stimulus in 2009. The Title I program was given $169,784, IDA received $595,574 and $28,158 went to the preschool IDA program.
In addition to the audits, the stimulus money provides another obstacle for the district's accounting department, Olson said. The federal government requires the money must be used for specific programs, which means it can't be used to fix other budget shortfalls.
This creates a budget problem because prior to the added stimulus the district already received in 2009, it had been awarded $601,393 in federal money for the IDA program, and $20,611 at the preschool level, Olson said.
It becomes difficult because there are only so many ways to spend money on the same program, he said.
The district also received $955,643 in federal money that the state government secured for jobs funding. The reporting and auditing of this program is a little more difficult, Olson said, because it involves predicting what the money will be used for. Each district will have to generate a quarterly report on jobs saved by the money.
The money Monroe received was actually substituted for a portion of state aid the district was given so it could be applied to the general budget rather than one specific budget area, like other stimulus money. The district used the federal money to cover half the elementary staff time, Olson said.
Recently, the district was awarded another $450,000 in federal money for education jobs based on the state's shared aid formula - one district actually received only $5.
The added money for this year may be a blessing because there is discussion the state may rework its current bi-ennial budget reducing the amount of state aid each school district will receive. The district must be careful because federal money does come with rules, and some may not be completely known for a few months, Olson said. But, the district is seeking to offset any possible reduction in state aid with the fresh round of federal money.
"We are a little cautious on that, but we are hoping this will give us a chance to reduce some of the reduction in state aid we are anticipating," he said.