After another online conference with the Georgia Department of Education, local school districts have some clearer directions on the use of the federal stimulus money that is coming their way starting later this month.

The money is coming in two parts ” in Title 1 funds used in low income schools and special education funds that come directly to the systems, and in stabilization funds funneled through the state budget which will be used to strengthen Quality Basic Education, the state’s education funding.

“They had $600 million worth of cuts in QBE next year and they’ll be adding $319 million back from stabilization money,” said Greg Denney, chief financial officer for the Carroll County Schools. “That means the austerity cuts are somewhere around half or maybe around 40 percent of what they were going to be.”

Although the systems have not been notified how much funding they will receive through the stabilization funding, the county schools were projecting about $6.5 million in state funding cuts for next year, so the reduced cuts could make a huge difference in the system’s fiscal year 2010 budget, he said. The proposed budget has a deficit of $1.6 million.

Getting the stabilization money through the state’s funding also means that it will save more jobs paid with federal dollars. Federal funding comes with the requirement that it be used for purposes above and beyond what state funds pay.

For instance, if the system is paying for 15 nurses, 10 with state funds and five with federal funds. If the system loses its state funding causing it to lay off the 10 state-funded nurses, it will also have to lay off the federally funded nurses because the system would be replacing the state funded nurses with federally funded nurses.

If the system doesn’t have to cut as many positions due to reduced state funding, more positions funded by federal dollars will remain safe.

Being a part of the stimulus package the temporary increase in funding is designed to create jobs. School administrators were hoping the money would help plug the holes the reduced state funding left in the budget and save current jobs.

But the non-supplanting regulations make it a little more difficult to accomplish that. After the last online conference, the federal guidelines were not released and it was unclear whether the regulations would be eased with the increased Title 1 and IDEA funds awarded in the stimulus package. At this conference they learned the federal restrictions are to remain the same.

However, the a precipitous-decline waiver can override the non-supplanting requirements of federal funding.

“What they’re asking you to do is to create new jobs and apply for waivers in some instances,” said Dr. Kent Edwards, assistant superintendent at Carrollton City Schools. “Because of what they call that precipitous decline then you can apply for hiring those individuals either in IDEA or Title 1 capacities.”

Another issue schools were facing with the stimulus money had to do with time. The schools are set to start receiving the first half of Title 1 and IDEA money beginning later this month. Usually schools are required to spend all but a small percentage of that money by the end of the school year.

However, with the school year ending with summer school, just a couple of months after the money arrives, that meant the money would have to be spent on things “ computers, equipment, books “ rather than salaries. But the stimulus money arriving at the end of March comes with a one-time change to an 18-month spending deadline. The schools will then receive the second half of the Title 1 and IDEA funds from the stimulus package in September 2010.

Without knowing funding amounts, the school systems don’t yet know how much of an effect the stimulus money will have on their budgets or possible layoffs, but it is a welcome addition.

“We have no idea of the impact on our system yet,” said Denney, who last week presented a proposed budget for the system with a $1.6 million deficit. “We’ll use it to fund the (budget) deficit and whatever we have left over we’ll add back (employees).”