Source: stateline.org
President Barack Obama is seeking to use his economic stimulus package to leverage education reform. But his reform aspirations may be on a collision course with competing realities.
The Obama administration is betting big money that education reform will be good for the economy, and that economic stimulus will be good for school reform. One-eighth of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds—some $100 billion—is earmarked for education. The largest line item is a “stabilization fund” that will be allocated to states and that comprises $39.8 billion in formula funds for state support to local districts and public higher education institutions, and a $5 billion competitive grant program for which states can apply. One stated purpose is simply to stabilize the education sector and save teaching jobs. At the same time, however, the law asks that states invest in reforms that advance long-term educational goals.
Given the economic pressures they face in the recession, the temptation for school districts will be to pay lip service to reform and use the new federal dollars merely to replace declining state and local revenues. So it remains to be seen whether the stimulus will succeed in driving meaningful education reform at the state and district levels.
