Concerns Raised About Impact of Stimulus on Equity

New York

While the nearly $100 billion in federal economic-stimulus aid set aside for education has challenged school districts to turn one-time money into long-term reform, this historic influx of funding has also set the stage for long-term—and not necessarily positive—consequences.

That’s the verdict rendered at a two-day conference this week put on by Teachers College, Columbia University, and by the Campaign for Educational Equity, a research and advocacy organization based at the college. Researchers studying implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the 2009 stimulus law, reported to the attendees that stimulus funding is causing states to make structural changes in their education aid and in services they provide to disadvantaged students that will have consequences long after the money runs out.

What’s more, researchers found that the stimulus aid—which included a near doubling of Title I and special education dollars—not only failed to advance the cause of disadvantaged students, but...