State Education and Medicaid Getting Massive Funding Infusions (WV)

September 9, 2010

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Over the next year, county school systems across West Virginia are set to share a $55 million infusion of money that can be used to pay for tutoring and teacher training and to expand after-school, summer school and preschool programs.

Gov. Joe Manchin on Wednesday signed an application to the federal government for the state’s share of these one-time education dollars.

The funds are part of the Obama administration’s $26 billion jobs bill that was signed into law last month. The package includes $55 million for public education in West Virginia and $81million for the state Medicaid program.

The money is expected to arrive in the next several weeks.

"He is eager to receive the funding because of the opportunity and benefit this will bring to school systems around the state," said Manchin administration spokesman Melvin Smith. "His priority remains to improve education in West Virginia, and this funding will help move that goal forward."

Judy Hale, the president of the state chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, said the education money -which she said has to be spent by spring 2012 – can give impoverished and minority children the help they need.

"If the funds are used right, it can help the children most in need in West Virginia," Hale said.

The Obama administration’s spending package was meant to help school systems across the country pay teachers despite budget shortfalls that threatened thousands of teacher jobs.

But, unlike most other states, West Virginia has not had to lay off or furlough any state employees, including teachers.

Because of that, education official shave to spend the $55 million in the next year or so on programs they had not necessarily planned for and cannot count on being able to pay for ever again.

"It does not have to be used for programs that are sustainable, so you could put in a summer school for students and then, when the money runs out – and if you didn’t have the money to keep that going – you wouldn’t have to (have it again the next year)," Hale said. "But, in the meantime, you will have helped some children."

She expects the money to pay for student tutoring and mentoring and for interventions for poorly performing children.She also wants to see counties establish one-time programs after school and inthe summer.

Hale said research shows that summer schools before and after kindergarten can get disadvantaged students on par with their peers by the time they enter first grade. The one-time money, in essence, could perhaps save whole classes of such students across the state from being behind from the get-go.

David Haney, the executive director of the West Virginia Education Association, said he hoped the money would be used to provide Advanced Placement courses or things like upper-level math classes,as well as tutoring and after-school programs. He also would like to see some of the money spent on training teachers.

But Haney said he wants county officials first to rehire any teachers they have laid off because they didn’t have enough money.

There are few, if any, such teachers in the 55 counties because the state has not cut education funds. In some instances, however, teachers have been laid off because of declining student enrollments.

But Haney said in some cases a layoff may have forced a school to put two grades in the same classroom, a practice known as "split-grade" that is highly discouraged by educators. He would like to see those teachers rehired, if only for a year.

The money cannot be used for pay raises. It can, however, be used to contract with teachers to provide additional services, like teaching an after-school program or summer school or providing overtime mentoring.

The law also restricts the hiring of administrative personnel in the central office and is meant to go to educators.

Hale said the money also could be used by a handful of counties to start preschool programs for 4-year-old children. State law requires counties to have such programs by 2012. The one-time money could help the straggling counties -including Kanawha – jump start the program, which the state then would help pickup the tab for in coming years.

Hale said Manchin has been concerned about control over the money. Even though it is going to flow through the governor’s office, local school officials have a good deal of discretion on how it is spent.

She said Manchin and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan agreed that while local officials will spend the money, they will send invoices to the governor so his office can make sure counties are following guidelines.

Hale does not believe there will be logisti cal problems or corruption issues.

"I don’t think the logistics are a problem," Hale said. "I really don’t. I think the issues will be for the county boards and the superintendents to determine what their students most need in their county."

Unlike the tens of millions in federal money that has already been sent to West Virginia from the federal government’s 2009 stimulus package, the recent funds come with strings attached. 

The new law ends – for now – a tactic called "back fill," which Manchin administration officials have been using to help balance other areas of the state budget with money federal officials had intended for classrooms.

Some call the tactic a shell game, but it’s a practice that has helped prop up the state budget and helped the state end the fiscal year with a $90 million budget surplus amid declining revenues.