Stimulus reporting paperwork burdens schools

As the first reporting deadlines for how stimulus money is being spent approach, schools around the country are struggling to calculate how much money they spent and how many jobs they've saved. The first public reports of how the $100 billion of stimulus funding for education is being spent are slated for release Oct. 30, Michele McNeil of Education Week reports.


The Obama administration is "trying to do this delicate balance: Are they getting enough information so the public can know exactly where the money is going, and are they doing it in such a way that is not overburdening?" Michael Griffith, a school finance expert with the Education Commission of the States, told McNeil. “I think the answer depends on where you sit.” As of Sept. 30, the date the first reporting period ended, states had only spent 30 percent of the education funding.

School officials across the country have been provided with hundreds of pages of guidance and regulations about reporting, some of it highly technical, making the process more difficult. These guidelines may place additional strain on rural schools with fewer resources.

The 3,000-student McComb School District in Mississippi decided not to accept stimulus construction funding, in part because of the reporting requirements. John Musso, the executive director of the Association of School Business Officials International, tells McNeil: "The people I worry about are those in the rural districts, where the school business official may be the superintendent and the high school principal." (Read more)