News producers and news casters should have a basic understanding of school funding issues so that they do not give the public the wrong impression regarding how schools allocate their funds. Much of the funds schools receive are called categorical funds and can only be used for the purposes for which they are intended. Such is with the federal Title II funds that Panama-Buena Vista (PBV) is using to pay for a professional development opportunity for its teachers. Those funds may only be used for professional development and to help teachers become highly qualified. Your newscaster stated that PBV had "earmarked" funds for a professional development opportunity for its teachers when it had cancelled the 8th-grade graduation. This implied that the district chose to use the funds for the professional development instead of other educational issues, such as an 8th-grade graduation. I hope that this was truly a misunderstanding of how these funds can be used and not an intentional method of raising the ire of PBV parents.
