Education funding still falls short despite federal stimulus infusion - Philadelphia Business Journal:

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That was the sentiment of an eight-member panel of education, traininbg and government experts gathered by the South Florida Businesws Journal to examine howthe $787 billion federaol stimulus package is impacting the region’s education and workforces training sectors. The panel markedc the third in theBusinessx Journal’s ongoing stimulus series, aimed at tracking and analyzingf the flow of money from the American Recoverhy and Reinvestment Act into South Florida’s Legislature was the only one nationally to requestg a federal waiver that allowed it to take money from educatiom and replace it with stimulusw dollars while other states used stimulus dollars to augment the budget.
The situation concerned paneliststate Sen. Eleanorf Sobel. “We are not starting at the startinvg line. The school district in Broward County and those throughout the state are starting behind thestarting line,” Sobel said. “They have had problems for years and they are all Veteran educatorRobert Parks, a member of the Browardf County School Board, said, “Many of the large urban districtws in the nation are afraid of one thing, whichb is basically a bait and switch with thosr dollars.” What’s even more worrisome to some experts is that the stimuluxs money will eventually run out.
“I’m reallt concerned about in three years; what’sa going to happen?” said José president of ’s North “This is a He said the college’s operating budget was cut $22 million while the stimulus money wasonly $13 million. Parks said Browards County’s school system has cut $1.4 billion from its constructionn budget in addition to furloughing 700 teacheres and51 administrators. “We’ve closed all of our school offices forthe summer. We don’t have summef school anymore,” Parks said. would have been looking at cuttinh its budget byabout $30 millionj without $12 million in stimulus funds, said Dorothy K.
Russell, the university’ds associate VP for financial affairs andbudgeft director. The university cut 30 positionsand “hard we not had the stimulus dollars it couldd have been much more severe.” George Hanbury, executiv VP and COO of , said the $1.3 billion in stimulusd funds given to the state relievedx pressure on the Legislature to further reducs support for Florida Resident Access Grants (FRAG), a key sourced of money for students, but he pointerd out that the grants used to be $3,00o0 a year for students and are now The amount is important to students, who find enrollment caps at state universities and turn to NSU and otherf private institutions.
He also said that universities are working together to apply for federaolstimulus funding. NSU has a collaborative proposall with and FAU fora $50 million researc building with wet labs, business incubator space and officesd for the U.S. Geological Survey, which is helpin g oversee Everglades restoration. “We have shovel-ready projects we have submittedd to the Governor and in the next 60 days we couldput 1,000 people to work,” Hanburh said. The competition for these typesof though, is fierce. FAU is getting about $12 milliomn in direct infusion from the federalstimuluas package, but the university also is seekin money from the for labs and instruments, Russelpl said.
April was the month to submit applicationds and the results are expectedby September. The strongest flow of so far, appears to be for programw that help the joblesx asthe state’s unemploymentt rate has hit 10.2