Patrick earmarks $2.4 million for SPED in Lynn

LYNN – One day after allocating $1.7 million in federal stimulus money for the Lynn Public Schools, Gov. Deval Patrick announced Friday an additional $2.4 million in immediate payouts for the city’s special education programs by the end of the month.
Speaking at Brockton High School, the second straight day he has traveled to a struggling school district to announce recovery funds, Patrick said he has set aside $280 million in federal stimulus money to aid districts in covering special education costs over the next 27 months and an additional $10 million to fund preschool SPED services across the state.
“Additional funding for special education is an important step toward helping all of our students reach their full potential,” said Patrick. “Federal recovery funds are making a difference once again.”
Unlike Thursday’s announcement where just 166 districts received only enough stimulus money to close a gap between Chapter 70 aid and individual foundation budgets, Patrick said this funding is available to all school districts in the commonwealth over the next 27 months. Districts will receive half of the funding by the end of March, totaling $140 million through the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), with $5 million dedicated to preschool programs.
This fall, the remaining $140 million will be allocated to districts along with another $5 million for preschool programs.
Patrick’s announcement Friday revealed only the funding that will be paid out this month, meaning Lynn could be in line for over $4 million before the end of the calendar year.
In total, Lynn will receive $2,388,947 for K-12 SPED programs and $92,740 for preschool programs, totaling $2,481,687 in total SPED funding by the end of this month.
While the money is earmarked for a very specific area of the budget, the payout could help free some additional cash for next year to fund programs and avoid at least a portion of the layoffs predicted to come in fiscal year 2010.
“These funds will allow our districts over the next two years to provide students who require special education with the services they need without cutting into the regular education budget,” said Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Mitchell D. Chester. “In addition, I am asking that our districts devote at least half of the federal stimulus funds to strategic investments that will provide ongoing benefits and cost savings well into the future.”
Mayor Edward J. Clancy Jr., who was both grateful for and critical of the funding released by Patrick Thursday, was pleased to hear of the second payout to his city in as many days and said the $2.4 million in SPED funding will go a long way in aiding the school budget team in keeping class sizes small and teachers employed next year.
“That is great news, we can use money in any area we can get it,” Clancy said Friday. “With this money we will be able to keep special ed programs and keep class sizes tenable.”
Lynn will receive far and away the most funding of any area community, as the SPED payouts for March reflect the size of each community’s individual special education department.
Of the other communities in the Greater Lynn area, Peabody will enjoy the most funding this month, receiving a combined total of $1,014, 078, followed by Revere at $998,975, Salem at $704,407, Marblehead at $441,985, Saugus at $379,937, Lynnfield at $332,307, Swampscott at $276,779 and Nahant at $28,504.
While the funding is good news for Lynn, Clancy said it remains to be seen how the payouts will affect this and next years’ budgets and salary negotiations.
Clancy will meet with members of the school administrative staff next week to discuss the budget, and Superintendent Catherine Latham is expected to attend a superintendents’ conference in the near future to discuss stimulus funding.
“This is good news but we do still have a lot of difficult decisions in front of us,” said Clancy. “But it has been a good couple of days, we are in much b