By Gitte Laasby, Post-Tribune
glaasby@post-trib.com
More than half of the $156.6 million that Northwest Indiana received in stimulus funding through the end of September went to schools.
A Post-Tribune analysis of federal data shows schools received $87.4 million, or 55.8 percent of the total amount of stimulus funding awarded to the region between Feb. 17 and Sept. 30, 2009. School officials say they're spending the two-year grants on expanding programs that help struggling students. They also hired and trained teachers and bought new equipment.
However, school officials say they have less to show for the money than could be expected. That's because the state snagged $610 million of stimulus funding intended for Indiana schools and substituted it for funding the state normally provides. The money saved now plugs a state budget hole.
"It was used for off-setting state aid that goes out to all the school corporations," acknowledged Cris Johnston, executive director at the state's Office of Management and Budget.
Johnston didn't know how much money the state took from Northwest Indiana districts, but said the state saved about 10 percent of funding for schools because of stimulus money.
"Without stimulus funding, what would have happened? It would just be conjecture on my part, but obviously it's an issue the General Assembly and the budget agency would have had to deal with," he said. "What steps would have been taken, I don't know."
Asked whether the state's stimulus grab goes against the intent of creating more jobs, Johnston said Indiana isn't the only state that handled stimulus funding that way.
"This funding stream was named the way it was, the state fiscal stabilization fund. That was the purpose, to stimulate funding in education," he said. "Most states have been using it in this fashion."
Students to get more help
Gary Community School Corp. received the most stimulus funding of any entity in Northwest Indiana, $19.5 million. Spokeswoman Sarita Stevens said at least $10 million of that was substituted for state funding.
With the rest, the district is training teachers and adding more elective courses at its career academy. The school system also bought equipment for special needs students, from screen enlargers and amplifiers to computer software that allows teachers to better tailor instruction to each child's learning style.
The Northwest Indiana Special Education Cooperative has hired a total of nearly 40 teachers, paraprofessionals and teaching assistants to help students after school and in summer school, assistant director Denise Bashore said.
"They truly did try to create or keep people that they were possibly going to lay off," Bashore said.
The cooperative serves Crown Point, Griffith, Hanover, Highland, Hobart, Lake Ridge, Lake Station, Merrillville, River Forest and Tri-Creek schools.
Of the $5.6 million stimulus intended for Portage Township Schools, about $4.7 million disappeared into state coffers, said Deb Dudek, director of Title I and special student programs. The remaining $871,000 will be spent on extending remediation help to middle schoolers.
"Our basic grant never reaches as far as we'd like so we moved it into the middle school," she said. "Just because they've reached sixth grade doesn't mean they don't need remediation."
Next year, all students at Portage schools will have access to remediation help. The district has hired a couple of additional teachers to help.
The School City of Hammond received the second-most money of any entity in Northwest Indiana, $17.4 million.
Jana Abshire, director of Title I programs, said the district will spend a chunk on improving reading skills.
Officials have designated 13 literacy coaches to help students in elementary through high school. The coaches were moved from existing teaching positions, but new teachers were hired to fill the gap. Half the funding came from stimulus.
"We're doing intervention in middle and high school. We are able to do this only because of the stimulus money," Abshire said. "Our coaches, literacy coaches, we would not have been able to afford without the additional financial support. Their total salary is not coming out of the stimulus, but it's the combination of stimulus and district improvement money that has allowed us to put it in every building."
Without the stimulus money, the district would have been limited to half, she said. The district also spent money on professional development for teachers.
"We expect to see a great impact on student achievement," Abshire said.
Hammond Superintendent Walter Watkins said the district has also hired seven behavioral specialists who will work with students and families when students are having difficulty with attendance.
"The primary goal was to reduce the number of suspensions and expulsions due to attendance" problems, he said.
Bashore of the Northwest Indiana Special Education Co-op said school officials are hoping to see benefits from stimulus dollars after the funding disappears in two years, but that state budget cuts may undermine that.
"With the governor's requested cuts, I don't know what's going to happen when this money is gone," she said. "I'm not optimistic on that end."