EdVANTAGE Blog

Saturday’s New York Times ran an article titled, “Schools Are Where Stimulus Saved Jobs, New Data Show.”

The Times reported,

On Friday, the Obama administration released the most detailed information yet on the jobs created by the stimulus. Of the 640,239 jobs recipients claimed to have created or saved so far, officials said, more than half — 325,000 — were in education. Most were teachers’ jobs that states said were saved when stimulus money averted a need for layoffs.

Of the 40,620 jobs reported to have been created or saved by the stimulus in New York State, 29,212 were credited to funds channeled through the U.S. Education Department, chiefly jobs in school districts.

But many of those jobs could disappear, with the threat of new state budget cuts, to close either an estimated $3.2 billion deficit this year, or projected gaps in future years.

In an informal email survey done by the Council, close to half of responding districts said they anticipated needing to eliminate jobs in order to accommodate proposed mid-year aid cuts.  Most of those said they would need to eliminate some jobs saved with stimulus funds, a few reported they would need to cut all those jobs.

Overwhelmingly, superintendents  expect to face much worse choices next year, especially if their districts use up whatever reserves they have now to offset mid-year state aid cuts, as Governor Paterson suggests.

Despite stimulus funding, 76 percent of New York school officials responding to a survey by the Council’s national affiliate, the American Association of School Administrators, said their districts had to eliminate jobs this year.

The AASA survey was completed before Governor Paterson unveiled his plan for mid-year School Aid cuts.  Yet looking ahead to next year’s school budgets, 89 percent of New York superintendents nonetheless expected to face making job cuts.

For the break-out of jobs created/saved by federal agency source, go to the list here, then click on the “+” next to New York.