A new stimulus bill will help states with education costs.
The $26 billion bill was signed by President Obama Tuesday and education officials are ready to get the additional funding.
"I’m hoping this money will be funneled toward K-12 in the classroom, for the teachers, for the kids to improve our scores," said State Representative Sharon Steckman.
Steckman is excited about the new legislation. She hopes classroom size is one thing that's improved with the added funds.
"Just hiring an extra teacher for every grade level would alleviate your class size right there," said Steckman.
According to the U.S. Department of Education, Iowa is slated to receive $96 million in federal funding. Minnesota will get about $166 million. But what the money will be used for is still unknown.
"It's all going to depend on how those funds get down to the individual school districts and how those school districts are told they need to use those funds," said Steckman.
"The full intension of the legislation is to benefit the education of our students, that's what we strive for," said Steve Shamburger.
Shamburger with the Iowa State Education Association says they hope the funding will go toward restoring programs that were once cut.
"A lot of the programs like art, music and P.E. which some of those have been reduced, we anticipate that those may come back to full time," said Shamburger.
But they're uncertain whether this funding will create a permanent change, or simply help out for one year.
"We only forecast from school year to school year so it'll be a great boost to education," said Shamburger.
Representative Steckman agrees.
"They saw that education is a priority it should be a priority. We've always excelled in education in Iowa and I’d like to see it continue," said Steckman.
This bill also gives money to states for Medicaid payments. The vote Tuesday night by Congress was practically straight down party lines. Republicans opposed the bill saying it's just another federal bailout that taxpayers can't afford.
Minnesota representative Michelle Bachmann said Democrats and their union allies, not educators, stand to gain the most from this legislation.
A complete breakdown of how much each state will get from this bill can be found on the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities website.
