UPDATE on the federal funds, RTTT, and Medicaid: UPDATED

This just in from Commissioner Chester (via the ever-helpful MASC list-serv); I quote here in full:

As I'm sure you all know by now, President Obama signed legislation yesterday that will bring additional federal funds to Massachusetts for K-12 education. Under the new “Ed Jobs” program, we expect to receive approximately $200 million. We are assisting Secretary Reville and Governor Patrick in analyzing the opportunities and limitations for distributing these funds, and we also expect to receive some additional guidance from the U.S. Department of Education that may impact how districts can use the funds. At this point it is unclear which districts will receive funding, and how much will be allocated. We know that time is running short and that you are finalizing your spending plans for the coming school year. We will distribute reliable information once we have it – which may happen as early as next week.
The other portion of the new federal funding is known as FMAP, which are reimbursements related to the Medicaid program. As you may recall, some of the appropriations in the FY11 state budget, including several education-related line items, were contingent on the receipt of these funds. These contingent appropriations were vetoed by the Governor. At the time of the veto, Governor Patrick stated that if FMAP were to be passed, he likely would file a supplemental budget bill. It is my understanding that the Legislature will need to take additional action, either to override the Governor’s vetoes or to respond to a supplemental budget bill, for these funds to be available for spending. At this time it is premature to speculate what programs might receive additional funding from FMAP.
Lastly, as many of you know, we had our Race to the Top finalist interview in Washington, DC. on Tuesday. Governor Deval Patrick, Secretary Paul Reville, Deputy Commissioner Karla Baehr, Boston superintendent Carol Johnson, and I were members of the interview team. Deputy Commissioner Jeff Nellhaus participated as an alternate. I believe we made a strong showing. Our opening presentation went smoothly, and we were well prepared for the questions we were asked. I left feeling that we put our best foot forward and that our chances for winning this competition are strong. That being said, the competition is tough and the funds available are sufficient for only a subset of states. Decisions are expected to be made early next month, and
we will let you know the outcome as soon as we hear.
Stay tuned for more information. If you have any questions in the meantime, please feel free to contact me or Associate Commissioner Jeff Wulfson.

Mitchell

A couple of things of note there: did you see the "which districts will get funds" part? That would appear to mean that some districts WILL NOT. If this comes back to fully funding Ch. 70, you'll see some districts out of luck. The education-related line items are, I believe, largely these items that the governor cut when he signed the budget. It will have to go back to the Legislature, though, so anything is possible. And on RTTT: I've also heard that there was some close questioning on tying teacher evaluation to student test scores (the ever-popular, yet research-discredited, idea being pushed so hard by the fed) of the Massachusetts delegation. So far, Chester and Reville have been fending the bulk of this bad idea off; we'll see how that plays out in D.C.

UPDATE: The federal DoE is estimating that this will save 2,900 education jobs in Massachusetts. Complete list here.