I've been looking with great interest at the education portion of the economic recovery package recently passed by the House. $150 billion is a lot of money--in fact it's the single largest investment in public education in history. In a refreshing turn of events, education seems to be the top priority of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, as the stimulus package is called.
I like the American Association of School Administrators summary, which compares the House and Senate versions of the package. They also provide a link to the House Education and Labor Committee's district-by-district chart , which gives you an estimate of what the House stimulus package could mean for your district.
With luck, in the fall of 2009 our nation will begin some version of its two-year commitment to renovating and modernizing schools, and providing a higher level of funding for federal education programs as well as more money for states.
I'd be interested to learn what you think is the best use of your districts' monies.
For education to work, and work sustainably, the funding source ought to be real money. I am disturbed at the lack of criticism that this "stimulus" receives. If it were a family that we knew that was trying to spend their way out of their financial problems by borrowing more and more money, we might say, "wow, they obviously don't have much financial literacy!" When it is our government, and we are the recipients of the "free money", we cheer the irresponsible spending and ask for more. The short term boost that may (or may not) result from this credit card spending will be offset by the price we will pay for our poor judgement.