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Wyoming Governor won't apply for $17.5M in education funds

Vermont's governor expressed the same reservation but went ahead and accepted the money.

Money rules.

By Josh Mitchell

CHEYENNE -- Gov. Dave Freudenthal has decided not to apply for $17.5 million in federal education funds that Wyoming is eligible for, but the state will still receive the money, according to officials.

Now, instead of the state deciding how the funds will be distributed, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will make those decisions.

"The money is still coming to Wyoming because it's appropriated that way by Congress," said Freudenthal's press secretary, Leigh Anne Manlove. "But the secretary of education decides how it's distributed."

It is unclear how the funds will be distributed or if all of the state's 48 school districts will get some of the money. The U.S. Department of Education's press office did not return a phone message late last week.

The $17.5 million that Wyoming will receive is part of the $10 billion approved by Congress this month to prevent teacher layoffs in the midst of the recession. Because of the lack of flexibility in how the state can use the funds, Freudenthal decided not to apply for the funds. Under rules passed by Congress, the money can primarily be used for retaining existing education jobs or creating new ones.

Freudenthal said he can't justify applying for funds that are meant to prevent teacher layoffs when no such cuts have come from the state level in Wyoming. If there have been layoffs of teachers and other education employees, the cuts came at a district level, Manlove said.

Freudenthal suggested using the money to build schools, but the funds cannot be spent in that fashion under the rules. Wyoming's portion of the money would be enough to pay for the construction of two new schools and help the local economy by putting contractors to work, Manlove noted.

Freudenthal also asked if the money could be kept in savings, but under the rules it has to be spent this budget year, said Manlove.

The governor has criticized the lack of flexibility in how the funds can be spent, saying, "Washington D.C.'s one-size-fits-all mentality does not fit in Wyoming," said Manlove.

Another reason the governor did not apply for the funds is that he did not want citizens thinking the state was going to replace the federal dollars when they expired.

"This is one-time stuff from the feds," Freudenthal said in a news release.


— Josh Mitchell
Wyoming Tribune Eagle
2010-08-29
http://www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2010/08/29/news/20local_08-29-10.txt

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