OXFORD – Oxford Hills School District officials say they will receive close to $800,000 in federal funds, which will help stave off a projected $2 million budget gap for at least another year.

“It’s just wonderful,” Superintendent Rick Colpitts said of the $791,000 the district will receive through the Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act passed by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama several weeks ago.

“My recommendation is to put it in the bank,” Colpitts told the Board of Directors at its Monday night meeting.

News was received about the money late last week when Maine Department of Education Commissioner Angela Faherty announced the state’s application for $39 million in education job funds was approved.

In a statement released Friday, Faherty said, “This is great news for Maine. It means we will be able to retain, rehire, or hire more teachers and other school-level educators and other staff, and preserve and enhance programming for Maine students at a time of challenging finances.”

The funds can be used to rehire, avoid layoffs, restore furlough days and other salary-related items for teachers, principals, librarians, food service personnel, bus drivers and other school positions that provide school-level educational and related services, according to information from Gov. John Baldacci’s office.

Earlier this year, school officials were grappling with news of a projected $4 million loss in state aid over the next two fiscal years.

To deal with the cutbacks, voters unanimously approved a $34.2 million budget for fiscal year July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2011.

That is an almost $2.3 million less than the previous fiscal year. The budget received a boost of $1.6 million from the federal stimulus package, but this is the last year that money will be available, officials said.

School district Business Manager Kathy Fanjoy said they had heard rumors about a second stimulus bill, but until they saw the numbers posted on the state’s website they could not be sure.

“It’s really good news,” she said Wednesday.

School officials are expected to submit paperwork to get the money by next week. The money has to be spent by September 2011, she said.

“We have the budget balanced for this year. The money will fill in the gap (for the next budget year, beginning July 1, 2011,)” she explained.

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