Information from District Administrator - Scott Foster
The Education Jobs Fund legislation recently provided $10 billion to states to retain or create positions that provide educational and related services for early childhood, elementary, and secondary public education. Wisconsin received over $179 million in funding. The big questions many tax payers are asking is why in Wisconsin did some districts receive zero dollars or very little money and other districts in the state received hundreds of thousands or even millions? Sadly enough the Northland Pines School District received $76.
The reason for the disparity is that the federal government gave each state two choices to distribute the money:
· Using the state’s primary K-12 school funding formula; or
· Based on the distributions of the Title IA of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) for the most recent fiscal year for which data is available.
In Wisconsin, Governor Doyle chose to use the state school funding formula as it will spread the money out more proportionately across the school districts in the state. However, when you look at the Title IA option the Northland Pines School District would have received $285,433 compared to the $76 we received.
After the announcement of the allocation of this money, Northland Pines District Administrator - Mike Richie immediately wrote letters to Governor Jim Doyle, State Superintendent Tony Evers, US Representative Steve Kagen, US Senator Russ Feingold, Senator Jim Holperin and Representative Dan Meyer. Here is a copy of his letter:
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