School district to get chunk of federal stimulus money

NOTE: THIS STORY HAS BEEN CORRECTED.

At least $138 million from President Obama's $787 billion stimulus plan will be trickling down to the Philadelphia School District, according to the district's top money man.

Between $45 million and $50 million in new Title 1 money for low-income children and $24 million in new special-education money is on track to arrive next school year, and again the year after that, said district Chief Business Officer Michael Masch.

The new funding will be on top of the $140 million in Title 1 money and $44 million in special-education money that the district annually receives from the federal government, Masch said.

In addition, the state - and city school district - will get a not-yet-determined portion of $39 billion in stimulus funding set aside for K-through-12 and higher education, Masch said.

The stimulus money will help the district balance its upcoming 2009-10 operating budget, he said.

The earliest draft of the spending plan will be made public next month. The plan must be adopted by the School Reform Commission by the end of May.

"I would say at this point it is far from catastrophic, but given the final version of the stimulus [act] it is not going to be as good as some people thought it was going to be," Masch said of the budget.

That's because earlier versions of the federal legislation had the district getting as much as $504 million over two years.

The 157,000-student district's current operating budget is $2.3 billion. Another $500 million in grants comes to city schools from foundations and the federal and state governments. *