Stimulus Chest or Pandora's Box?

Federal stimulus monies should start getting released to schools this week. But some are crying saying loopholes in the bill will let schools spend the money on playground equipment and wallpaper instead of teacher jobs, the AP reports.

The law was written so broadly that most of the stabilization dollars can be spent on just about anything - carpet, wallpaper, playground equipment, even new school construction - which might bother Senate moderates who insisted on dropping a school construction program before they would vote for the bill. That's because school districts can spend the money as federal impact aid, a relatively small program for poorly funded districts. By contrast, most federal education dollars are supposed to be spent on teacher salaries or academics.