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$28M federal funds assured for PSS
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Posted on Nov 24 2011
Commonwealth public schools are guaranteed $28 million in federal funds this fiscal year, which represents all regular grants given to PSS each fiscal year, according to Public School System federal programs officer Tim Thornburgh.
The federal assistance will come from various granting agencies like the U.S. Department of Education for specific programs and purposes including the annual consolidated grant, the nutrition assistance program grant, for special education, and Head Start program.
These federal monies, Thornburgh said, may increase, depending on the approval of some PSS grant applications such as the competitive $632,000 grant for staff professional development from the Office of Insular Affairs and about $4 million in discretionary funds for tracking students’ progress.
“What we are sure to receive this fiscal year 2012 are the regular grants [for consolidated grant, nutrition assistance program, special education, and Head Start programs] and this amounts to $28 million. But we’re working on some discretionary and competitive grants that hopefully will add to these federal monies for our schools,” said Thornburgh.
PSS will only get $30 million from the local government this fiscal year; $28 million will be used to pay for personnel salary while $2 million will go to operation and all others.
Thornburgh said that federal funds greatly help the school system because it supplements the funding shortage at the local level.
PSS received $8 million from the federal education jobs fund in fiscal years 2010 and 2011 and the amount was used to pay for teacher salaries. However, with Congress yet to act on President Obama’s American Jobs Act, Thornburgh said PSS may not get any federal monies from this initiative this fiscal year.
The proposed Act would allocate $18 million for PSS: $12 million for teachers’ salary and retention and $6 million for school repairs.
Another version of the American Jobs Act proposes to give PSS up to $24 million.
Either way, Thornburgh said the legislation will greatly benefit the Commonwealth’s schoolchildren. He said PSS is still hopeful that despite the approaching political season in the U.S., the bill will still pass.
