Schools' stimulus spending tough to track amid varied reporting rules
07:12 AM CDT on Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Alongside textbooks and technology, Texas school districts have doled out stimulus money to car dealerships, Atmos Energy and neighboring cities.
Why? It's hard to tell.
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Databases:
• TAKS scores 2005-2009
• Class of 2007 first-year university grades
• AP classes at D-FW schools
• U.S. income and poverty estimates by school district and county, 2008
• Dallas 5th-graders on track for middle school
• North Texas school rankings 2009
• Texas schools accountability ratings 2009
• TAKS scores 2005-2009
• Class of 2007 first-year university grades
• AP classes at D-FW schools
• U.S. income and poverty estimates by school district and county, 2008
• Dallas 5th-graders on track for middle school
• North Texas school rankings 2009
• Texas schools accountability ratings 2009
Districts must report whom they've paid when they spend at least $25,000 in stimulus funds, but don't have to say what they've purchased. Anything less than that doesn't require federal reporting.
The state education agency asks districts to explain how they will spend their share of $7.1 billion, but the public can't obtain the information easily. Since few districts break down the purchases, most taxpayers don't know how their stimulus money gets spent.
"It's terribly complicated for most people, even parents who work in the business world," said Sandy Maddox, the deputy
