ASBO International's Economic Recovery Blog

"You are on the Front Lines"

These were the words of U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education, Tony Miller to ASBO members attending a town hall meeting with the deputy secretary and a panel of school business experts on Sunday at ASBO International's annual meeting in Chicago.

The stars are aligned, said Miller, for the success of this once-a-generation opportunity. He defined those stars as effective leadership, goals, strategy, financial resources, and legislation.

The panelists and audience members brought to the discussion the realities of handling stimulus dollars, including simply administering the process while keeping the finance team lean to set an example for the rest of the district. States took a beating as the audience erupted in applause at the comment that states keep changing direction on how to track the money and that they are using the stimulus dollars to supplant funding--leaving the tough decisions on sustainable support for education for later.

The deputy secretary offered a glimmer of hope when audience members asked for more flexibility to use funds outside of Title I schools noting that we should look for an announcement coming soon.

The full town hall session will be made available online and announced here in the coming week, and look for an announcement about a Web seminar specifically for school business officials tentatively scheduled for November 19th at 1pm Eastern.

Saved by the Bill

It's alright 'coz we’re saved by the bill…or are we?

The Washington Post reports that federal stimulus funds have "created or saved 250,000 education jobs, the Obama administration announced Monday, although states and school systems continue to face enormous fiscal pressures.” According to the report, we’d be facing even more dire circumstances without the federal aid.

Bloomberg News added that the stimulus plan "has allowed school districts and universities to avoid layoffs and states have been able to restore 'nearly all of their projected education budget shortfalls' for fiscal years 2009 and 2010, the White House said, citing preliminary data in a new government report."

California: The Land of Food, Wine, and Evaluating Teachers Through Student Achievement

To qualify for the starting line of the Race to the Top, California changed its laws. The AP reports that the state “is removing a legal ban on using the results of student achievement tests to evaluate teachers, under a bill signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R)." The new legislation "lifts a barrier that prevented California from applying for $4.5 billion under the federal Race to the Top program."

And they’re not done yet. More reforms—like removing a cap on the number of charter schools and giving the state more authority to step in at failing schools—are needed, say education officials.

Still Looking for Where to Find Facilities Money?

ASBO set the DVR for you. Listen to Facilities and Construction Money: Where to Find It. For this webinar, ASBO teamed up with the American School Board Journal. We’ll show you the money!