Rowland Unified School District

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Reporting

Federal Stimulus Package

The Rowland Unified School District, with enrollment of 16,500 students in K-12, was allocated the following ARRA funds:

      State Fiscal Stabilization Fund  (SFSF) $6.65 million  - received

      Title I                                                               $2.68 million  - partial

      IDEA*                                                             $3.33 million  - partial

      McKinney-Vento                                             $0.15 million  - received

*   Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

While the ARRA funds come with accountability and tedious reporting requirements, School Districts are still a big beneficiary of these funds. For Rowland Unified School District, the SFSF provides for two year temporary relief in the General Fund.  SFSF will help maintain the Class Size Reduction (CSR).  Without the SFSF funds, there is an urgency for the District to further reduce the staffing to balance the budget.

For Title I and IDEA ARRA funds, the District is in the process of coming up with a strategic plan to spend the more restricted dollars.  School Districts are faced with a challenge on how to maximize the funding on eligible expenditures so that students will continue to benefit from the program long after these “one time” funds are exhausted.  This could mean investing in program design to promote better educational outcomes.  Considering the program restrictions and the one time nature of the funding, it takes time to come up with the best spending plan.

The ARRA funds must be fully spent by September, 2011.  There were some issues that the funds are not being spent fast enough as indicated in the October, 2009 reporting deadline.  As mentioned earlier, the SFSF pays for staff salaries and these are paid monthly.  Only one month of salaries was reported in the recent reporting period which was for September, the first month of payroll.  The other nine months worth of salary will be spread the rest of the school year.

For as long as School Districts are trying to preserve or improve programs, prevent further lay-offs or create jobs even in other sectors (such as construction), we are hoping that President Obama’s administration would consider simplifying the reporting process.  In doing so, School Districts can continue to focus on the ultimate job that must be accomplished – that is providing the best education to the students.