Posted on Thu, Sep. 02, 2010

San Luis Obispo County school districts are set to receive about $6 million from the federal Education Jobs Fund, Jack O’Connell, state superintendent of public instruction, announced Thursday.

State Senate Bill 847, which authorized the state Department of Education to disburse the funds, was approved by the California Legislature and is awaiting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s signature.

Districts across the county will receive money that is designed to allow districts to retain or rehire current and former employees and hire new employees. The funds may not be used for general administrative expenses.

“It is good news,” said Julian Crocker, San Luis Obispo County’s superintendent of schools.

While it’s never too late to hire back employees, doing so after the start of the school year may cause some interruption for students if classes are reorganized, Crocker said.

Once Schwarzenegger signs the bill, district administrators can begin discussing how to use the money.

“As soon as the Governor signs this bill into law, we can start the process of distributing the funds to schools,” O’Connell said.

Senate Bill 847 provides the state Department of Education with the authority to allocate $1.2 billion from the federal Education Jobs Fund signed into law last month by President Barack Obama.

Lucia Mar Unified, the county’s largest school district, is expected to receive $1.7 million, according to the Department of Education. San Luis Coastal Unified and Paso Robles Joint Unified are each expected to get about $1.1 million, and Atascadero Unified would receive more than $800,000.

The preliminary calculations for the amounts local districts are entitled to receive are based on the state’s revenue-limit formulas. Those are the funds a school district or charter school may receive per pupil in average daily attendance, which is the total number of days of student attendance divided by the total number of days in the regular school year.

The estimated amount of money going to each district is based on the enrollment in each district during the last school year, so the amounts may change once new enrollment figures are available, Crocker said.

For more information, go to http://www.cde.ca.gov/193082.