AFT LEGISLATIVE HOTLINE--TUESDAY, JULY 7, 2009 (copyright 2009 Texas AFT)   Federal Funding for Public Schools--After the Stimulus Money...Then What?   For the coming two school years, at least, the immediate budget squeeze on Texas school districts will be eased by the influx of several streams of federal revenue under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed in February. That bill provides roughly $2.25 billion for Texas public schools in extra aid over two years for Title I services for economically disadvantaged students and for special-education services for students with disabilities.   In addition, the federal stimulus bill provides upwards of $3.2 billion more in so-called "education stabilization" funding for Texas. That's the money the legislature and governor have designated to provide an increase of $1.9 billion in state formula funding for education, which includes $700 million or so for an across-the-board pay raise for classroom teachers and full-time counselors, librarians, school nurses, and speech pathologists. The legislature and governor also agreed to spend pretty much all the rest of the "education stabilization" dollars on funding for school textbooks and technology. (These allocations for so-called Foundation School Program funding formulas, textbooks, and technology make up the bulk of the stimulus aid that Gov. Rick Perry formally applied for on July 1. The state's application is now under review by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, with a decision expected within two weeks.)   Both the Title I/special-ed money and the "education stabilization" money are one-time injections of federal revenue to counteract the effect of the nation's worst recession in nearly 30 years. However, Texas Commissioner of Education Robert Scott repeatedly stated to lawmakers this spring that key officials in the nation's capital were signaling an intention to keep a higher level of funding flowing in future years for Title I and special education.   If that's going to happen, it will require that Congress and the White House soon begin to ramp up the ongoing baseline of federal education funding in annual appropriations bills. A first step in that direction was taken already this spring in the belated education-spending bill for fiscal 2009, which should have passed last fall but was held up pending the outcome of the presidential election. This 2009 spending bill did increase somewhat the baseline level of federal support for Title I and special education, raising Title I funding $648 million, for a total of $15 billion, and raising the federal share of special-education costs to 17.4 percent, a boost of $558 million above the 2008 level, for a total of $11.5 billion.   The next test of federal intentions regarding funding relief for the longer term will come this week, as Congress works on spending legislation for fiscal 2010.  A key U.S. House appropriations subcommittee is scheduled to "mark up" the spending bill for education on Friday morning, July 10. As the subcommittee happens to be chaired by Rep. Dave Obey, the Wisconsin Democrat who also chairs the full committee, this panel's discussion and decisions should offer early indications of any federal plan to sustain funding increases for Title I and special education. We'll know more soon thereafter; Rep. Obey's current ambitious schedule calls for completion of all House action on education spending before the end of July. With the help of our national legislative team at the American Federation of Teachers, Texas AFT will keep you up to date.