Remember back in August 2010 when Congress passed the $10 billion “Education Jobs Bill” to create or save some 300,000 teaching, police and firefighter jobs?
Then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the legislation “has a direct relationship to the strength of our communities, the education of our children, the safety of our neighborhoods, the stability of the economy of our states, and really points directly to our prospects for the future.”
Turns out the “edujobs” bill also has a direct relationship to the bonuses teachers in Tennessee’s Marshall County school district may soon receive.
Several board members want to use leftover stimulus dollars to hand out one-time bonuses of $500 to teachers and $300 to full-time school staff. They reason that employees have gone without pay raises over the past few years, and the bonuses would help boost morale, reports the Marshall County Tribune.
Board member Kristen Gold is urging caution.
“There are so many things we need,” Gold said. “We’ll have to use the fund balance just to maintain where we are.”
It remains to be seen how the Marshall school board will decide the bonus question. But if you’re like us, you’re probably thinking, “We borrowed $10 billion from China for this?“
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