By Denise-Marie Balona in the Orlando Sentinel:

Florida education officials have been dismayed to learn that $1 billion of the $4 billion federal stimulus designated for schools in the state must be spent on special education and Title 1 schools  — not on paying salaries or saving jobs.

And as school districts whittle spending on sports, the arts and college preparation, federal restrictions are forcing educators to funnel hundreds of millions of dollars into programs for poor and disabled children that might not be needed.

… Bill Montford, who heads the Florida Association of District School Superintendents, said it will be tough to explain that to the public.

“The fact is that there are so many unmet needs and challenges throughout our districts that, sometimes, it’s difficult to justify spending and meeting needs in Title I and ESE [special education] that may appear to be far less serious,” Montford said.

Earlier post here.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009 at 8:22 am and is filed under IDEA, budget, education. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.