Springfield Awarded 48K in Federal Education Funding

New Jersey's Acting Commissioner of Education Rochelle R. Hendricks has announced how state's Department of Education will distribute funds from the Federal Education Jobs Bill. According to the release, Springfield will receive $48,942 of the $268 million.

According to an official document from the Dept. of Ed., the funds are meant to retain, hire or rehire "teachers and other employees who provide school-level educational and related services," including principals, assistant principals, academic coaches, in-service teacher trainers, classroom aides, counselors, librarians, secretaries, social workers, psychologists, interpreters, physical therapists, speech therapists and other employee types.

"The U.S. Department of Education allows these funds to be used for non-classroom costs, such as cafeteria workers, bus drivers and coaches, but it is my hope that this unexpected revenue will be directed to those areas most likely to help our students excel academically, namely classroom activities," Hendricks wrote in a letter to the state's school districts.

The Department outlines specific uses like salaries, performance bonuses, health insurance, retirement benefits, incentives for early retirement, pension fund contributions, tuition reimbursement, student loan repayment assistance, transportation subsidies and reimbursement for childcare expenses.

"With your staff and budget set for the 2010-2011 school year, I urge you to be mindful of how and when these funds are spent," Hendricks wrote. "While record levels of total federal, state and local funding have been made available to schools in recent years, the next budget cycle promises to be challenging. Therefore, please consider reserving this one-time funding for the 2011-2012 school year if possible."

The funds can't be used to pay off pension liabilities. The statute also prohibits school districts from using the funds to pay for general administrative expenses.