Money For Jobs?

‘Dems’ ‘Education Jobs Money’ Has Been Spent On ‘iPads,’ ‘Prisons,’ ‘Tickets For Movies,’ And ‘A Trip To A Water Park’

iPadsINDIANA: "The [Monroe County School Corporation] district is using federal stimulus money to purchase the iPads. There will be 120 for staff members and 670 for students." ("Stimulus Funds Help MCCSC Purchase Hundreds of iPads," Indiana Public Media, 9/28/11)

MISSISSIPPI: "The NASD School Board approved the purchase 125 iPads from Apple at a Sept. 29 meeting for $80,450 to be paid with federal American Reinvestment and Recovery Act funds or stimulus funds." ("Public Schools Investing In 100 iPads," Natchez Democrat [MS], 10/17/11)

MAINE: "The City of Auburn has planned to provide iPad 2 tablets to kindergartners this fall. ... The fall 2011 purchase of 309 iPads, at a cost of $228,000, will come from $96,000 in leftover federal economic stimulus money." ("Auburn explains iPad funding," Sun Journal [ME], 6/24/11)

UTAH: "In order to provide quality coaching and support the iObservation system, funds from the Title I, Part A grant were used to purchase 28 Apple iPads. The iPads were used to support district and school administrators in their use of iObservation and support them in their efforts to improve teaching and learning for students most at risk of failing to meet state standards. Another focus of the grant is to improve the technology connectivity for teachers and students at two high schools. Total Amount: $156,000; Location: Sevier School District in Utah; AWARD DATE: 7/1/2010; Project Status: Less Than 50% Completed; Jobs Reported: 0.0." (Sevier School Distract, Inc. Grants - Award Summary, Recovery.Gov)

TEXAS: "When teachers in the Clint Independent School District want a new classroom activity, they turn to their iPads - because there's an application for it. The district has purchased about 750 iPad 2's with $480,000 in federal stimulus money." ("New Tool In Classroom: Clint Teachers Pleased With iPads," El Paso Times [TX], 9/2/11)

PrisonsALABAMA: "Alabama's biggest recipient of federal education stimulus dollars thus far is not a local school system or a college: It's the Department of Corrections, according to a Press-Register analysis. The agency has received $118 million of $1.1 billion in stimulus funding doled out to the state by the U.S. Department of Education since 2009." ("Prisons The Biggest Recipient Of Alabama's Education Stimulus Dollars" Press-Register [AL], 12/19/10)

LaptopsVIRGINIA: "Virginia Beach, on the other hand, used relatively little of its stimulus money for salaries. According to Farrell Hanzaker, chief financial officer for the division, $16 million was used to build a new College Park Elementary School, and other money went toward supplies, materials and technology like laptop computers and reading and math remediation software. About 85 salaries are being paid with education jobs money. 'We didn't want to use the stimulus money to fund ongoing kinds of expenditures,' Hanzaker said. 'We knew that was one-time money that would go away in two years.'" ("Federal Stimulus Money Is Running Out For Schools," The Virginian-Pilot, 7/12/11)

Movie, Water Park TicketsNORTH CAROLINA: North Carolina Schools used stimulus money for "tickets for movies, a water park, fast food, and other entertainment." "The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) mandates GAO to review states' and localities' use of funds made available under the act. ... In our review of documents, we found evidence that in addition to paying teachers a total of $17,270 in salaries, HAWS [Housing Authority of Winston-Salem] also used ESEA [Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965] Title I funds to pay for STEP [Summer Teaching Enrichment Program] activities that included other salaries and field trip-related expenses, including tickets for movies, a water park, fast food, and other entertainment." (GAO, "GAO Review of LEA Controls over and Uses of Recovery Act Education Funds (Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools)," 7/9/10)

• GAO: "For example, activities for students included a trip to the movie theatre to see movies entitled Ice Age (for K-5 graders) and Terminator (6-12 graders) for a total of $405.50 and a trip to a water park, Wet and Wild Emerald Point, for $961.23 (including food and locker rentals)." (GAO, "GAO Review of LEA Controls over and Uses of Recovery Act Education Funds (Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools)," 7/9/10)

STIMULUS PROMISE FLASHBACK: Will Prevent "Laying Off Firefighters, And Teachers, And Police."PRESIDENT OBAMA: "It's a plan that will save or create up to four million jobs over the next two years ... And the jobs of firefighters, teachers, nurses, and police officers that would otherwise be eliminated if we don't provide states with some relief." (President Obama, Town Hall Remarks, Fort Myers, FL, 2/10/09)

• OBAMA: "This plan will … help prevent our states and local communities from laying off firefighters, and teachers, and police." (President Obama, Remarks, Washington, D.C., 2/5/09)
• OBAMA: "We've created and saved, as you said, Joe, at least 150,000 Jobs - jobs of teachers and nurses and firefighters and police officers. People who had been laid off are not being laid off…" (President Obama, Remarks, Washington, D.C., 6/8/09)

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