While South Florida's cities and counties wait for stimulus money to drop into their bank accounts, the state's two largest school systems have already been awarded millions in aid. Miami-Dade has spent some of it; Broward none at all.

That's OK, schools officials say: Weaving the funds into districts' budgets has saved thousands of jobs as the stimulus intended.

``Without it, it would be Halloween Horror Nights,'' said Broward Superintendent Jim Notter, whose district laid off nearly 400 teachers in June despite the cash infusion. (In July, the district rehired about 170 of them.)

Layoffs would have climbed to about 1,500 in Broward without the stimulus, Notter said.

Miami-Dade Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said 904 special-education teachers' aides, 697 guidance counselors and 343 library media specialists are being paid this year and next with federal dollars.

``I don't think that many are aware that we are on stimulus funds right now,'' said Dwight Bailey, a media specialist. ``It's not the most comforting feeling . . . But I don't think it's an indication that we're expendable.''

Florida lawmakers used about $2 billion of those funds to shore up the state's education budget. No money was left over to give to districts.

But the state budget patch stemmed cuts to per-student education funding, either preserving or creating 26,000 teaching jobs statewide, according to the Florida Department of Education.

Schools chiefs fear those jobs could be at risk in two years once the stimulus money runs out.

``We're all holding our breath about what will happen two years from now when these dollars sunset,'' Carvalho said. ``Without a long-term solution, this will be catastrophic.''

The rest of the education stimulus will mostly go to high-poverty schools and special-education programs, based on existing U.S. Department of Education grant formulas to speed up delivery of the federal money.

In April, Florida school districts were awarded half of the grant funds. They expect to receive the rest in October.

Miami-Dade spent more than $37 million to pay special-needs teachers and psychologists and extend summer school from 20 to 25 days for children who needed remedial work and children with disabilities.

As with most grants, the districts have to incur an expense first and then take out the federal dollars to cover the cost.

Miami-Dade will use some of its $89.2 million for disabled students and $96.5 million for high-poverty schools to save about 200 more jobs, including speech teachers and physical education teachers for disabled children.

Some of Broward's share, including $62.5 million for special education and $48.4 million for high-poverty schools, has already created 54 two-year posts for academic coaches -- reading, math or science specialists who coach teachers -- with more to come.

To spread the money around, both districts changed the way they define high-poverty to include 104 more schools in Miami-Dade and 48 more in Broward. No Broward high schools qualified for the money before; 16 now do. That should translate into more staff and supplies at the neediest schools. Some Miami-Dade schools will be able to offer for free some extended preschool hours and activities that parents previously had to pay for.

Broward chose not to apply for a $1 million competitive grant for Head Start, the federally funded preschool program, because the money required a $200,000 match from the district.

``We're in a position now that, with everything, we're robbing Peter to pay Paul,'' said School Board member Robin Bartleman, who was upset that Broward could not afford to grow Head Start.

The two districts did jump on the chance to borrow interest-free stimulus money for construction, despite early concerns that they would not have enough money to back any new debt.

Broward issued $49.9 million in construction bonds -- with the federal government picking up the tab on the interest. Miami-Dade will borrow more than $200 million; the first chunk will partly pay for construction and renovation work at Miami Senior High School.

As part of a competitive state grant, Broward also picked up $115,386 and Miami-Dade $106,973 for school lunch equipment.

Join the discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.repliedToText@

@Nyx.replyAnswerText@

Reply to this Comment @Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@