Stimulus Funds Saved Jobs, Report Says

Education stimulus funds largely met the goal of saving or creating jobs in education, according to a report by the Center on Education Policy at George Washington University.

But the center also found that state budget shortfalls have slowed the progress in carrying out education reforms tied to stimulus money disbursed under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

"Federal stimulus funds appear to have blunted the effects of the economic downturn on the K-12 education sector," Maria Ferguson, the center’s executive director, says in a news release.

"Although many districts still had to eliminate teaching and other key staff positions, our research indicates that the situation would have been worse without the stimulus funds."