BATON ROUGE, La. -- State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek has told school superintendents their districts won't receive an expected infusion of $147 million in federal education money.
Instead, The Associated Press has learned that Pastorek told the superintendents in a Wednesday conference call that the Jindal administration plans to use the money to fill in budget gaps next year and to help offset cuts to higher education.
West Baton Rouge Parish Schools Superintendent David Corona called the news devastating. Districts had been told how much money they could expect and had already made plans to use it.
The money was approved by Congress in August. The administration plan comes as the state faces a $1.5 billion shortfall in the upcoming fiscal year that begins July 1.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
