Reports show more than half of total Minnesota stimulus jobs were in public schools

Associated Press

Last update: November 2, 2009 - 4:51 PM

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More than half the 14,000 jobs created or saved by the federal economic stimulus in Minnesota are in public schools.

Federal and state officials are reporting about 7,400 full-time teaching and school support staff jobs linked to the stimulus through the end of September.

The U.S. Department of Education issued a report Monday detailing 7,421 stimulus jobs in the state's education system.

Minnesota Management and Budget officials counted 7,380 K-12 school jobs created or saved by stimulus spending of $634 million.

Statewide stimulus coordinator Michelle Weber says school districts calculated the jobs based on projections of what their staffing would have been without the stimulus.

Charlie Kyte, head of the Minnesota Association of School Administrators, estimated that the stimulus prevented about 1,000 school layoffs.