Sabotaging Stimulus

"It is amazing how much you can accomplish when it doesn't matter who gets the credit." -- Harry S. Truman

The Federal Stimulus funds were offered to states to spur jobs in education and the amount Utah accepted was $101 million. The money came with instructions that the states send it directly to the school districts so that they can keep employees working this school year.

The procedure in Utah, however, was more complicated because the State Constitution requires the legislature to allocate federal funds. This would require a session of the legislature, so there were two options:
1) wait for the legislative session to convene in January or
2) call a special session beforehand.

Waiting until January would mean a delay of as much as six months making it impossible to put this money to work during the 2010-2011 academic year.

The next interim meeting of the legislature is this Wednesday, the 20th of October and it seems that if all the legislators will be at the Capitol anyway, it would be a simple matter to convene a special session for the purpose of allocating the $101 million dollars to the school districts.

Of course, politics can turn anything that seems simple into a complex mess. The Governor now has said he will not convene a special session.

There was mixed response about accepting the money in the first place. Many legislators railed against the federal government's attempts to spur job growth by deficit spending on stimulus bills. Republicans are anxious to prove that it doesn't work.

Legislators also have a habit of micromanaging the operations of the state's school districts by mandating the use of funding. For example, the funds that come from the School Trust Lands have all kinds of restrictions. The legislature regularly weighs in on curriculum changes, specific education technology, teaching credentials, etc. I am concerned that they will bicker and fuss over how every penny should be spent. This could delay this allocation to the districts even more. I am a believer in local control and accountability. I would like to see this stimulus money sent to the districts as soon as possible with the instruction to use the funds as intended -- to foster employment.

There is talk of throwing this into the state education deficit or into the troubled pension fund. While I would love to see relief in both of these areas, this money has not come to us to be used in this manner. It is to protect jobs and even as one-time money, it should be used as intended. Otherwise it will become another case of "too little too late".

My fear is that politics will shortchange us in this case. In order to prove that stimulus bills do not work, legislators can make certain that this one doesn't. The ones who will suffer, however, are the teachers in this state and, ultimately, the school children.