Thursday marks the first deadline for Mississippi schooldistricts to submit the first of many meticulous reports trackingthe expenditure of every penny of federal stimulus funding, butsome districts will let the Oct. 1 deadline slide by and submittheir reports next time.

That’s because they haven’t seen the first cent of stimulusmoney.

While the Brookhaven School District is preparing to spend andtrack the first allotment of an expected $2 million stimuluscontribution from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of2009, the Lincoln County School District – and most of the rest ofthe state’s 152 districts – has nothing yet to track.

Brookhaven Superintendent Lea Barrett said the city district hasreceived “substantial approval” for an application submitted to theMississippi Department of Education detailing how Title I stimulusfunds will be spent, and has an application for spending IDEAstimulus funds pending. She said Brookhaven is one of only 60districts statewide that have received approval for stimulusfunding, which is reimbursed to districts after local funds arespent.

“We haven’t drawn down any funds yet, but we have set up ourreport to track it,” Barrett said. “We know what the dollar amountis, and now we’re waiting for approval. We’ve already submitted ourapplication, explained how we intend to spend the money and whatwe’re trying to accomplish.”

The narrative reports have to be detailed, Barrett said,explaining how much money is being spent, what it’s being spent onand how the purchase will improve the district. The money is beingtracked from three separate funds.

Brookhaven’s Title I approval will allow another school nurse tobe hired for the district’s elementary and middle schools.

“So many of our elementary kids take some kind of medication,and it’s very time-consuming for the school nurses we have onhand,” Barrett said. “They did ask us for a little more informationwanting to know how having an extra nurse on staff will improvestudent achievement.”

Barrett said school administrators statewide first receivedinstructions to apply for stimulus reimbursements through thegovernment’s Central Contractor Registration Web site Tuesday, andregistration must be completed by Thursday. CCR registration was atwo-hour ordeal, and keeping up with stimulus funds for what shesaid would be a “strong federal audit” is an even lengthierprocess.

“We’re spending lots of time maintaining and tracking federalstimulus money,” Barrett said. “That’s been a very time-consumingand focused issue for us.”

The county school district, meanwhile, has received approvalfrom MDE to seek reimbursements on its $2 million stimulus pot, andis not ready to set up its tracking system. District businessmanager Cheryl Shelby said an application for IDEA funds has beensubmitted but not reviewed.

“The first report will depend on when they tell me I’m gettingstimulus money,” she said. “They’re sending me my (MississippiAdequate Education Program) dollars every month, but they could goall year long and then, on that last MAEP payment, make thatstimulus. It’s only about one-twelfth of what I was going to getanyway. The money they’ve sent me thus far has been statdollars.”

Furthermore, Shelby said stimulus dollars are almost”impossible” to spend because of the many regulations attached. Forthis reason, the district is not yet prepared to submit morereimbursement applications.

“If you do any construction, you have to make sure it’s builtwith American-made iron or steel, and that your contractor iscertified,” she said. “We don’t have the personnel to monitorcontractors. That’s not feasible for us. It’s not money you canjust go out and spend. There’s a lot of preparation before we canspend because there’s a lot of strings attached to that money.”