Ohio’s 7,200 “saved” education jobs from porkulus were NEVER in danger of being lost

431795172_7a4955aed0_oLast week, Obama claimed that the porkulus bill saved or created over 640,000 nationwide, and around 7,200 education jobs in the state of Ohio. According to the Columbus Dispatch, although a couple of hundred of those jobs were in Columbus City Schools, the district acknowledged yesterday that many of the “saved” jobs definitely wouldn’t have been lost in the first place, and others might not have been lost at all.

“I know we explained to (the Ohio Department of Education) what we were doing, and they told us what categories to use,” said Jill Dannemiller, director of federal programs for the Columbus schools.

Although other areas of the district’s budget might have suffered without the stimulus, district officials said, the jobs report nonetheless highlighted the fuzzy math involved in pinpointing a saved-jobs number.

The Obama administration announced Friday that about 640,000 jobs had been created or saved by the $787 billion stimulus package, with 325,000 of them in education. It didn’t differentiate between saved jobs and created jobs.

Federal Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in a conference call with reporters yesterday that the country has “325,000 who would literally not be in the classroom today if not for these funds.” But not in Columbus, where the district’s finances looked pretty solid before the stimulus. Voters passed a levy last November that should keep the district’s books largely in the black until 2012.

Of the 212.5 full-time equivalent jobs the district said were funded with part of the $64 million in stimulus it expects to receive, about 65 percent were “saved,” including 36 principals and assistant principals.

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November 3, 2009 · Filed Under Porkulus


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