MOLINE, Illinois—
School districts and elected officials are praising new federal funding for education. The Education, Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act promises to pump some $10 billion to local school districts. It could help to save or create teaching jobs.The Moline school district knows about financial tough times. It had to pink slip more than 100 teachers. While many got their jobs back, even more could return under the federal package.
"School districts are going to be able to retain some teachers that they might not have been able to," said Regional Superintendent Jim Widdop. "And they're also going to rehire some of the ones that have been let go."
"We want our kids to get a decent education," said Rep. Phil Hare, (D) Illinois.
Hare's Republican challenger, Bobby Schilling, also supports the legislation.
"This kind of boils down to appropriate and inappropriate spending," Schilling said. "I believe that this is one of the more appropriate spending bills that we can have out there."
Rep. Hare estimates it will save or create more than 350 teaching positions in the 17th Congressional District. And it could preserve some school programs that are on the chopping block while reducing some class sizes. It isn't, however, a cure-all. Some teachers still won't get their jobs back.
"The great news about this bill is it was totally paid for and didn't add a penny to the deficit," Rep. Hare said. "In Washington, D.C., that can be unique."
"The big thing is to find the root cause of the problem," Schilling said. "The current administration just likes to throw money at things rather than to find out what the problem is, and that's what we need to get to."
Struggling school districts see this as a first step. The feds hope to have applications out in days and plan to fast-track the money to states in coming weeks.
"I work with an awesome group of people," said Andrea Schafman, a school counselor from East Moline. "We need all the teachers that we have. They all do a good job. It hurts to lose even one person."
In Moline, which represents the struggles of other districts, the funding is viewed as good news.
"This will help bring additional teachers back," said "Para-professionals, custodial staff and others," said Ken Schneck, a Moline Special Education teacher and president of the MEA. "It will be very helpful."
A quick fix that's trying to keep teachers on the job.
