What is good news for some Southern New Hampshire school districts is bad news for others. Gov. John Lynch has decided the $41 million in federal stimulus money the state will receive is going toward adequacy education funding.
That means districts such as Salem will benefit, while others — Derry and Londonderry — will lose out on millions of dollars.
"I would appreciate money coming to save teachers' jobs," Derry School Superintendent Mary Ellen Hannon said. "We are definitely going to be one of the poster children for lost jobs in our districts."
Hannon said she is struggling to plug a $1.5 million budget gap and avoid laying off at least 41 teachers in addition to other school personnel before the start of the next school year.
Derry already is losing $7 million under a recently revised adequacy education funding formula that distributes money to school districts as state aid, Hannon said.
The new formula, adopted in 2008, is based on various factors, including students' financial needs and districts' costs to operate programs such as special education. The previous formula was based heavily on community property values.
"It definitely is an issue for us," Hannon said, adding that she expects it will be a problem for many other districts as well. "We are all in a big black hole."
Hannon said she recently spoke to Lynch about the $41 million in stimulus funding and he was unsure how it would be spent. Although districts have not been officially notified, learning yesterday the money would be used for adequacy education grants was "no surprise," she said.
"I have lost a little faith in what's going on in Concord," Hannon said. "That hasn't been the first time it's happened."
In Londonderry, School Superintendent Nate Greenberg also wasn't surprised. He said a previous round of federal stimulus money also was allocated for adequacy education funding.
"At this point, it's not going to affect the district in a positive way," he said. "Knowing how budgets work, it's not going to increase the ability of any district to hire people."
The $10 billion allocated by the U.S. Department of Education is viewed by many as a way to save jobs. Federal law allocates the money to schools under the Title I formula — providing funding to those with large numbers of low-income students — or through the state's aid formula.
"It is going to supplant as opposed to supplement," Greenberg said. "From my perspective, it's not going to save jobs in the education sector.
Under the new adequacy education formula, Greenberg expects his district to lose roughly $1.5 million to $1.7 million.
Colin Manning, the governor's spokesman, said yesterday the $41 million will be in addition to the $957 million already in the adequacy education fund. This also means $41 million already in the state's coffer would be used to fund other educational costs.
"The governor is still talking about what to do with that," he said.
For Salem Superintendent Michael Delahanty, the news about the adequacy education money was positive.
"It would certainly benefit us to have the money go toward the adequacy education formula," he said.
Salem is already receiving more than $5 million in state aid this year and about $7 million in 2011-2012, Delahanty said.
Previous rounds of stimulus funding have gone toward supplementing state aid and money for special education, he said.
Delahanty said although he sympathizes with hard-hit districts such as Derry, Salem needs the money as well.
"We could use the funding as much as anyone else," he said.
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