Billions More Taxpayer Stimulus Bucks for Public Education?

Rachel Sheffield / June 23, 2010

Apparently $80 billion of stimulus funds for public education wasn’t enough. The Obama administration now says that the federal government should fork out $23 billion more in taxpayer money to save teaching jobs. If not, according to education Secretary Arne Duncan, we will see catastrophic teacher layoffs.

Before calling for a crisis and demanding more taxpayer money, it would be a good idea to look at the facts. First, from the $80 billion of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), states received $49 billion in a portion of the act known as the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund. Of this $49 billion, states have only spent $28 billion. Why then is it necessary to pass another costly spending bill?

Furthermore, since (ARRA) passed, schools have continued to hire new staff, both teacher and non-teacher positions alike, with some schools creating entirely new jobs. Let’s take a look at some of the positions funded by the stimulus: (more…)