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Schools to track stimulus fund help
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| By: ADAM NORTHAM, DAILY LEADER Staff Writer |
July 15, 2009 |
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A long and uncertain budgeting process for school districts is being extended again this week after superintendents and district managers learned Friday they would have to create separate accounts to track federal stimulus money supplementing their budgets.
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Lincoln County School District officials will have to keep a close eye on approximately $1.1 million from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009 used to fund a portion of the district's Mississippi Adequate Education Program appropriation, while bookkeepers in the Brookhaven School District will have to track around $900,000. Expenditures from the accounts will have to be reported to the federal government every two months in accordance with Mississippi's selection by Congress as one of 16 states chosen to track stimulus spending.
Brookhaven School District Superintendent Lea Barrett said educators at first thought state offices would be tasked with tracking the money, but were instructed to create their accounts last Friday at a budget meeting for district managers.
She said the requirement will create an extra burden on the district's number crunchers, but tight accounting practices for stimulus money will be a priority. If the money is misspent, she said, the federal government might one day want it back.
"When all this is said and done and they audit, they will likely want a narrative explaining where and why it was spent," Barrett said. "I'm delighted we have the money, but it does call for some more work."
Lincoln County School District Business Manager Cheryl Shelby said school districts have been recommended to spend the money on instructional costs.
Both school districts are leaning toward using their stimulus accounts for teacher salaries, though neither has made a final decision.
"They want you to spend it on instruction, and our biggest instructional expense is teacher salaries," Shelby said.
Despite the stimulus money's creation of new accounting requirements for school districts, the federal cash did not fix some of the problems district administrators were hoping it would. The districts' budgets will remain at $27.7 million for Brookhaven and $25.5 million for Lincoln County.
Shelby said a $442,000 cut the district received for fiscal year 2009 was not restored.
"I think a lot of the districts were hoping some of the stimulus money would be used to refund that, but that did not happen," she said. "This is not new money. This is strictly part of the same old money they've given us, they've just gotten it from somewhere else and there's strings attached."
Barrett said the city district managed to pick up an extra $60,000 when its budget was redone after the completion of the state budget two weeks ago, but that amount would not have a great effect. It did, however, signal to district officials that it is safe to fill some unfilled teacher positions, and Barrett said around 10 new teachers were added.
But the city district is still holding on three teacher positions paid for with local dollars, Barrett said.
"They are still forecasting a very, very tight year next year and the year after," she said.
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©The Daily Leader 2009
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