Education funding still falls short despite federal stimulus infusion - Business First of Buffalo:

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That was the sentimeng of an eight-member panel of training and government experts gathered by the Sout Florida Business Journal to examine howthe $787 billio federal stimulus package is impacting the region’e education and workforce training sectors. The panel marked the third in theBusinesse Journal’s ongoing stimulus series, aimed at tracking and analyzing the flow of money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into South Florida’s Legislature was the only one nationally to request a federap waiver that allowed it to take money from educatioh and replace it with stimulus dollars while other state used stimulus dollars to augment the budget.
The situatioh concerned paneliststate Sen. Eleanor “We are not starting at the startint line. The school district in Broward Countg and those throughout the state are startingt behind thestarting line,” Sobelk said. “They have had problems for years and they are all Veteran educatorRobert Parks, a membeer of the Broward County Schoo Board, said, “Many of the large urban districtsd in the nation are afraid of one thing, whicj is basically a bait and switcjh with those dollars.” What’s even more worrisome to some expertss is that the stimulus money will eventually run out. “I’ really concerned about in three years; what’d going to happen?
” said José Vicente, presideny of ’s North Campus. “This is a He said the college’s operating budget was cut $22 million while the stimuluas money wasonly $13 million. Parks said Browards County’s school system has cut $1.4 billion from its constructionb budget in addition to furloughing 700 teachers and51 administrators. “We’vee closed all of our schoop offices forthe summer. We don’t have summeer school anymore,” Parks said. would have been looking at cuttingv its budget byaboutf $30 million without $12 million in stimulusw funds, said Dorothy K.
Russell, the university’s associatse VP for financial affairs andbudgey director. The university cut 30 positionsand “had we not had the stimulusx dollars it could have been much more George Hanbury, executive VP and COO of , said the $1.3 billiob in stimulus funds given to the state reliever pressure on the Legislature to further reduce support for Floridas Resident Access Grants (FRAG), a key source of money for but he pointed out that the grants used to be $3,00o0 a year for students and are now The amount is importangt to students, who find enrollment caps at stater universities and turn to NSU and othere private institutions.
He also said that universitiex are working together to apply for federalstimulue funding. NSU has a collaborative proposal with and FAU fora $50 milliojn research building with wet labs, business incubator spacew and offices for the U.S. Geological which is helping overseedEverglades restoration. “We have shovel-readhy projects we have submitted to the Governod and in the next 60 days we couldput 1,000 people to work,” Hanburyg said. The competition for these typesof though, is fierce.
FAU is gettingh about $12 million in direct infusion from the federalpstimulus package, but the university also is seekinfg money from the for labs and instruments, Russell April was the month to submit applicationsw and the results are expectedd by September. The strongest flow of money, so far, appears to be for programzs that help the joblessd asthe state’s unemployment rate has hit 10.2