Stimulus Negotiations

Negotiations continue and President Obama has set a weekend deadline for working out the disagreements and coming to a compromise on the legislation that will pass both the House and the Seante. This process of trying to get Obama's stimulus package to pass both the House and Senate has not been good news for education. The Senate is cutting out most of the bill that would benefit education. Many states were counting on receiving money from the stimulus and have stated that education will suffer and teachers will lose their jobs.

• The House bill provided $39 billion for state education budgets, $15 billion for incentive grants and innovation, and $25 billion that governors could use at their discretion. "The Senate cut the education aid to $31.3 billion and the incentive money to $7.5 billion, and it eliminated the $25 billion in discretionary funding" (Washington Post, 2009).
• Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle (D) states that "The schools are going to have to do with less over the next few years. We all understand that, but we really hope that there will be further help," he said. "We can't just say to a second-grader, 'Come back in five years and do second grade when the economy's better' "(Washington Post, Feb. 11, 2009).
• For higher education it means higher tutition rates, less students admitted, and cuts in staff.
  

The one glimmer of hope left is that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that some House Democrats were "concerned" about Senate cuts to education and other spending initiatives already approved by the House. So we will see...

States Counting on Stimulus Aid to Balance Budget
2/11/09