About that $100 Billion of Education Funding « The Enterprise Blog:
"The second Education Stimulus Watch is now available. In our ongoing effort to track whether $100 billion of education funding in the federal stimulus legislation is leading to reform or merely maintaining the status quo, we find reason for disappointment and a bit of cautious optimism.
Signs so far suggest that programs totaling $75 billion have been and will continue to be used by states and districts to fill budget holes and protect existing jobs and programs instead of generating the changes our schools need. This is the sad consequence of the way the law was written, ingrained state and district education habits, and the severity of budget shortfalls across the country. A number of factors indicate that state and district financial challenges will continue (and possibly worsen) in the months to come, which could negatively influence the law’s best chance for education reform: $5 billion in competitive grants."
"The second Education Stimulus Watch is now available. In our ongoing effort to track whether $100 billion of education funding in the federal stimulus legislation is leading to reform or merely maintaining the status quo, we find reason for disappointment and a bit of cautious optimism.
Signs so far suggest that programs totaling $75 billion have been and will continue to be used by states and districts to fill budget holes and protect existing jobs and programs instead of generating the changes our schools need. This is the sad consequence of the way the law was written, ingrained state and district education habits, and the severity of budget shortfalls across the country. A number of factors indicate that state and district financial challenges will continue (and possibly worsen) in the months to come, which could negatively influence the law’s best chance for education reform: $5 billion in competitive grants."
