Schools have trouble tapping stimulus funds - USATODAY.com

I was talking to my sister, a professor in North Carolina, about problems schools are having obtaining stimulus funds yesterday evening.

Link: http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-12-23-school-bonds_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip (sent via Shareaholic)

After the federal stimulus passed in February, North Carolina school officials thought they had found a way to repair the 58-year-old gym and other crumbling school structures. The stimulus provided money for Qualified School Construction Bonds, which is intended to let school districts raise capital through interest-free bonds to fund construction.

The program also was expected to boost North Carolina's construction industry. Ben Matthews, director of school support for North Carolina's Department of Public Instruction, estimated it would create 11,000 jobs.

But the bond program has become entangled in financial and bureaucratic red tape. Only $2.3 billion of the $11 billion in bonds available this year have been sold as of last week, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Posted via email from Brian's posterous