Photo by August Kryger / St. Joseph News-Press / Purchase this photo

Students are released from school at Edison Elementary School on Friday. The St. Joseph School District will receive about $5 million in federal funding over the next two years. The money, coming from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will be used for Title I schools, including Edison, as well as special education programs.

Federal stimulus money may save some of the 98 jobs lost by the St. Joseph School District after voters rejected a 63-cent school levy in April.

The district will receive about $5 million over two years from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which district and school officials have earmarked for helping poor students in several elementary schools and improving services for the district’s about 1,500 special-needs students.

Already, two staff positions in special education have been saved for two years, but officials say it’s unclear how many more jobs can be saved.

“Part of the reason why the stimulus money is there is to allow us to bring back some of those displaced workers,” said Doug Flowers, director of human resources for the district. The federal dollars cannot be used to build new schools or increase salaries.

School officials will have access to two separate pots of stimulus money on July 1.

About $3.1 million will go toward special education purposes. Another $1.9 million will go toward services at elementary schools that have the most kids on free or reduced lunches, including Lake Contrary, Humboldt, Lindbergh and Edison.

Officials say the federal dollars will help the so-called Title I elementary schools, which have had 10 percent slashed by the state in budget cuts this year. The larger chunk of money will help the nearly 10 percent of the district’s approximately 11,500 students who have special needs. Needs include speech therapy, learning disability and autism.

Some ideas being discussed include a sensory room for autistic schoolchildren, a custom playground for special-needs children and new wheelchair buses to replace the aging ones.

Dr. Solon Haynes, director of special services for the district, said these are wish-list items. Special-needs staff would also like to see the funds add or upgrade assistive teaching technologies in the classroom.

But the issue of staffing remains evergreen. Officials would like to use stimulus dollars to cushion the job security of existing staff and hire more special-needs staff. “It’s great to hire a teacher, but what do you tell that teacher in two years?” Dr. Haynes said.

The school district has until September 2011 to use the more than $5 million. Officials are adamant that the funds come with restrictions, still partially unclear since new federal regulatory requirements haven’t fully come down yet from Washington.

Ahmad Safi can be reached

at ahmadsafi@npgco.com.