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 be spent 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 people to act, starting now."

The Department of Education posted application guidelines on its website.

The good news is that states not facing teacher layoffs get a piece of the $10 billion pie anyway - that's the education jobs portion of the $26 billion bill.

But some states remain skeptical about whether or not they'll actually receive funding.

And then there's Texas. If the Lone Star State wants $830 million in emergency federal assistance for Texas schools, it will have to use the aid to 'to supplement and not supplant"existing state funding for public education." Last year, Texas diverted $3.2 billion in federal stimulus funds intended for education to balance the state budget.

Stay tuned.
(Photo courtesy of U.S. Navy)