http://66.225.205.104/SO20090619.mp3
CMS has already received $56 million in federal stimulus money that is specifically designated for high poverty schools and students with disabilities. But there's another pot of stimulus funds- called stabilization money- that district officials have said they still don't have details about. Stabilization funding is one-point-two billion dollars that the state is supposed to distribute for kindergarten through higher education. Yesterday, the governor held a rally calling for a tax hike to save teachers' jobs. After the rally, a reporter asked her what direction she would give CMS about the stabilization money. She didn't answer but instead addressed the restricted funds. "The federal law has me as a pass-through agent of the CMS and the other 114 systems. So the decisions have to be made here on the ground with your elected school board," she said. Superintendent Peter Gorman already knows that. What he doesn't know is what Perdue is going to do with the no-strings stabilization money. "Well, I can't tell you what's in her hands and what's not in her hands in her mind. I can just tell you the phone conversation where she said she definitely controls the stabilization pot," he says. The district has already laid off more than 1,300 workers- most of them teachers. Next Tuesday Gorman is scheduled to present to the board two more scenarios with further cuts. CMS is grappling with a potential $120 million shortfall in next year's budget.