Special Report
Education Funding Report Roundup

Report Gives Mixed Review to Federal Stimulus Effort

By Alyson Klein — December 07, 2010 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Nearly two years after Congress passed the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, a new report attempts to draw lessons from that economic-stimulus effort, which included some $100 billion for education.

The report was released last week by Bellwether Education Partners, a Washington-based education consulting group, and was written, in part, by Sara Mead, who also writes a blog for Education Week.

It finds that, while a few districts tried new education improvement tactics, most used their share of stimulus money to maintain spending levels. Part of the problem, the report says, was that the U.S. Department of Education was late in providing guidance for some stimulus programs and sent “mixed messages” about whether the funds were supposed to be used for reforms, to save jobs, or both.

Districts that did use the money in new and creative ways did so mostly because of local factors, such as direction from effective leaders, and not necessarily because of the federal government’s guidance. The stimulus funds might have led to more innovation in districts, the report adds, if federal officials had more clearly told them what not to do with their stimulus funds—or discouraged districts, in other words, from using ineffective practices.

In comparison to the overall education-stimulus package, the report’s authors conclude that the smaller Race to the Top program, a $4.35 billion competition among states, succeeded in spurring change because that was its chief goal.

The report also concludes that the budget issues the stimulus tried to solve are a “long-term and systemic problem.” Many districts tried to spend in ways that would minimize the impact of the “funding cliff,” the funding drop-off now that the money has stopped flowing, but in some cases, that was impossible.

The report recommends that federal officials work to help districts make hard budget choices rather than postpone them and calls on policymakers at all levels to put a high priority on helping districts build capacity. It was underwritten by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, which also helps fund coverage of the stimulus in Education Week.

Related Tags:

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and other jobs in K-12 education at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Education Funding States Are Pulling Back on K-12 Spending. How Hard Will Schools Get Hit?
Some states are trimming education investments as financial forecasts suggest boom times may be over.
6 min read
Collage illustration of California state house and U.S. currency background.
F. Sheehan for Education Week / Getty
Education Funding Using AI to Guide School Funding: 4 Takeaways
One state is using AI to help guide school funding decisions. Will others follow?
5 min read
 Illustration of a robot hand drawing a graph line leading to budget and finalcial spending.
iStock/Getty
Education Funding A State Uses AI to Determine School Funding. Is This the Future or a Cautionary Tale?
Nevada reworked its funding formula hoping to target extra aid to students most in need. What happened could hold lessons for other states.
13 min read
Illustration of robotic hand putting coins into jar.
iStock / Getty Images Plus
Education Funding How States Are Rethinking Where School Funding Should Go
There's constant debate over the best way to allocate state money to schools. Here are some ways states are reworking their school funding.
7 min read
Conceptual illustration of tiny people is planning the personal budget, accounting, analysis.
Muhamad Chabibalwi/iStock/Getty