Juneau County schools were on the receiving end of over $920,000 in federal Education Jobs Fund money when Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle announced district allocations of the state's $179 million share last week.

However, despite the sudden windfall of funding intended to keep teachers teaching, do not expect to see many rehires around the county.

The allocation of the funds, which was determined by the state's general school aid formula, can be used for more than bringing back teachers who have been laid off.

According to a release from the governor's office, the funds may be used for retaining existing employees, rehiring former employees or hiring new employees.

While the uses of the funds are varied, the deadline is absolute, Sept. 30, 2012, giving schools plenty of time to figure it out.

School District of Mauston Superintendent Steve Smolek, whose district received the largest chunk of funds, $331,413, said he is unsure how the district will use the money at this time.

"Are we better off using some of the funds for the following year or should we spend the money now?" he said.

Smolek said school officials will discuss the immediate needs of the district versus using the funds to prevent future layoffs.

"We're going to try to leverage the funds to best utilize these funds to help the district," he said.

New Lisbon School District Administrator Tom Andres and Royall School District Superintendent Mark Gruen are in similar situations with their districts' funds, $166,000 and $94,986 respectively.

"No decisions have been made on our federal funding," said Gruen.

Royall's new superintendent said the difficulty of manipulating a set class schedule in order to add rehired positions is a major obstacle in using the funds immediately.

"For us it's a scheduling thing," he said. "It would be quite a mess to pull kids from classes to make other classes."

Wonewoc-Center School District Administrator Art Keenan, whose district received $108,691, said decreasing enrollment was the cause of layoffs this year, potentially making any rehires a moot point.

Instead, he said the district is looking into using the funds towards a contract with St. Joseph's Community Health Services in Hillsboro.

The vague language of the fund's requirements may allow the district to use the money to provide health and wellness services to its students, something the district is currently lacking, according to Keenan.

"Right now we're looking at some of the rules," he said.

With the rest of Juneau County school districts still deliberating on how best to use the funds, Necedah Area School District is close to spending part of its $220,772, according to district Superintendent Charlie Krupa.

Krupa said the district is looking into using money from the funds to bring back a teacher. While technically a rehire, the teacher would be taking over an existing position vacated by a sudden retirement.

Other options being discussed in Necedah include putting the school nurse back at 100 percent and possibly adding another teaching position in the elementary school.

Otherwise, Krupa said the district has "no plans to go out to spend things or add something new."

Since general school aid is likely to decrease even more this year, one use of the money is being discussed among school officials in every county district - sitting on the funds to prevent layoffs next year.

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