How the Stimulus Package Affects WISD

There has been lots of talk recently, in newspapers, on the radio, on TV, about the new American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (better known as the Stimulus Package). President Obama signed the 1,000+ page law on Tuesday, and everyone wants to know how it's going to affect them. One of the major tenets of the bill is to help with infrastructure, including the building of schools, and it targets low income students in need better schools.

While the details of the bill are not fully known, it is known that the bill will have an immediate impact on 2 specific areas in education: Title I programs and IDEA programs. Title I programs are programs designed to improve the education of students of poverty. IDEA programs target students who qualify as special education.

Because of the low number of free and reduced lunch students (those who qualify for Title I) and our overall low number of special education students (less than 10%), the stimulus bill does not have the same impact on WISD as some of our neighbors. The last numbers I've seen, and these are definitely not the final numbers, is that WISD will get approximately $11,670 this year and an additional $13,559 next year towards those two programs. This $25,229 is required to be spent on those specific students and programs.

While a mere fraction of a percent in the overall $787 billion dollar package, $25,000 goes a long way in Westphalia. We hope to be able to use this money to better serve our students and will use it to continue our goal of excellence in education.