A Cautionary Tale

Time-delimited grants provide tremendous enhancements to nearly every public school district. However, many schools utilize non-renewable funds to support teacher/staff salaries, and when the funds run out, find themselves holding the bag ... and needing to either (a) integrate the positions into the regular budget, or (b) eliminate the positions (and the programs/activities they support). A district may be able to hedge their bets on a few positions here and there, but for the most part, the rule of thumb is "don't hire anyone with grant funds that you can't afford to lose." And you certainly shouldn't do what the Springfield (MA) Public Schools have apparently done:

MassLive: Springfield Schools

Grants funding 723 school jobs
Monday, December 08, 2008
By MIKE PLAISANCE

SPRINGFIELD - A School Committee member said a report that shows the School Department has 723 grant-funded positions is important as officials prepare for possible state funding cuts.

Loss of state money - which accounts for 70 percent of the district school budget of nearly $304 million - would limit the system's ability to begin paying the salaries of those positions if the grants end, committee member Michael P. Rodgers said.

The 723 are mostly teachers with some clerical and administrative staff included. The district has about 4,800 employees.

[...]

Most cities and towns in MA are gearing up for a 10% cut in local aid ... if that happens in Springfield at the same time a lot of these grants run out, there could be a lot of folks looking for work (including the Superintendent, and any staff who greenlit all of this grant-funded hiring).