Impact of Education Stimulus Funds on States and School Districts?

Posted by on July 30, 2012

ARRA and education

A summary of survey research by the Center on Education Policy (CEP) finds that education stimulus funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) largely met the goal of saving or creating jobs for K-12 teachers and other education personnel. However, ongoing state budget shortfalls have slowed implementation of reforms. In 2010, about 70 percent of the nation’s school districts used State Fiscal Stabilization funding, the largest pot of ARRA education money, to save or create jobs for teachers and other school personnel. In 2011, a majority of states also reported that ARRA and Education Jobs funds had saved teaching and other district- and school-level positions. In addition, the majority of districts receiving ARRA supplemental funds for Title I and IDEA programs reported using at least some funds to save or create jobs. The stimulus funds also had a side effect of laying groundwork for a common reform agenda among states. As a condition of receiving funds, states had to assure they would take action on certain reform-related activities, including making progress toward implementing rigorous standards and assessments; establishing and using statewide data systems to track students’ progress from preschool to college or careers; increasing teacher effectiveness; and providing support to turn around low-performing schools.

See the report: http://www.cep-dc.org/displayDocument.cfm?DocumentID=407