The state could lose the federal money if it doesn’t spend

it soon.
By Lindsay Tice
Staff Writer

The U.S. Department of Education says Maine hasn’t used $14.3 million in federal aid that it received for schools between 2000 and 2002.

If it isn’t spent, Maine will lose the money.

“When various officers and political candidates make comments that there is insufficient funding for No Child Left Behind, one has to look closely at the states that are not fully utilizing the money they have,” said C. Todd Jones, an associate deputy secretary at the U.S. Department of Education.

According to the department, states have failed to spend $5.75 billion in federal school aid granted to them between 2000 and 2002.

In Maine, officials have yet to spend $14.3 million. That’s 4.4 percent of the federal school aid Maine received between 2000 and 2002, Jones said.

States have 27 months to spend their money once it’s granted.

Maine’s leftover $14.3 million is earmarked by the federal government and must be spent on special education, vocational and adult education, school improvement, English language acquisition and low-income students.

Maine Education Commissioner Susan Gendron said Monday that she had people working to verify the figures.

“We do have carryover, absolutely, in the money that is sent to school districts,” Gendron said. “Most of that is not sitting in state coffers. It’s sent to school systems.”

Gendron said $2 million is being held by the federal government until the Inspector General’s Office finishes its investigation into a Maine program that oversees migrant students. She said Maine also received millions of dollars late because the federal government kept changing its grant rules.

She is looking into the rest.

Jones said it’s up to states to use their money when they see fit. He believes that if they spent the 2000 and 2001 funds more quickly, they wouldn’t have to rely so much on local funding.

“That cycle keeps up out into the future,” he said.

Gendron said Maine is spending its money as fast as it can. She said $14.3 million in leftovers doesn’t mean the government is adequately funding schools.

“The dollars are not sufficient. The dollars are very restrictive,” she said.

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