Education Department tells schools to spend $10 billion NOW, maybe
With state and local budgets still in flux, it's hard to know exactly how many teachers will or won't lose their jobs this year. As Congress prepared to pass a $10 billion measure to prevent thousands of teacher layoffs, some people asked if the money would bespent wisely. Nonetheless, the bill passed and on Tuesday President Obama signed into law the $26 billion plan to help states pay for medicaid and preserve an estimated 161,000 education jobs.
When should schools, which have until September 2012 to spend new federal funds, use the money? "This school semester. Now," U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan told reporters at a press-conference, after Congress approved the measure to preserve teachers' jobs. "We do not want people to wait until January or February. We want
