(From Education Week, June 9, 2009)
By ALYSON KLEIN
The education aid of up to $100 billion in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has always had two purposes: to help cash-strapped states weather the current economic storm, and to prod states to pursue broad-based improvements to education.
Now that the federal economic-stimulus money is beginning to flow to states, it’s clear that the still-bleak economy is heightening the tension between those goals.
In a number of states, including several with ambitious school reform plans on the shelf, massive deficits threaten to swallow a hefty portion of the stimulus aid, leaving less money for sweeping improvement efforts.
Even in states where the fiscal outlook is brighter, districts are reluctant to create new programs or hire new staff members because most of the stimulus funding is for one time only.
Now, at least one key author of the legislation is asking U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan–a strong advocate of using the stimulus aid as a policy lever in such areas as academic standards and teacher distribution–to dial back his expectations for how much fundamental change can be bought with the money.