Federal Grants Hit or Miss for Existing Teachers

What is going on with the schools in your area?  Are there any jobs available?  Or has every last job dried up– leaving laid off educators with little hope to find work any time soon?

News is reaching some states that funding has been freed up for their schools.  The federal $10 billion education fund is supporting education jobs and is being distributed to states by a formula based on population figures.

Texas and New Hampshire are two states that have received some federal funds to invest in schools.   U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced that Texas will receive $830.8 million to support education jobs.

“There is a huge sense of urgency to get these funds out the door,” said Duncan. “These education dollars will help Texas keep teachers in the classroom working with our students this year.”

You can tell from the tone that the state of education jobs is starting to feel like an emergency.  The focus is on keeping the same teachers– not recruiting new ones.

New Hampshire will receive $1.47 million to turn around its persistently lowest achieving schools through the School Improvement Grants (SIG) program.  Recruiters in this state may find new jobs in the state’s most troubled schools.

When a school district applies for these funds, the district must promise to take drastic measures.  Most of these drastic measures involve replacing top positions and finding new educators.  These extreme measures may lead to major lay offs of teachers and then major hires of new professionals.