Federal stimulus money will help Scarborough schools avoid layoffs this year and allow Cape Elizabeth schools to invest in improving technology curriculum.

Schools throughout Maine received a bit of good news this week, officials say, when they learned Monday the money from the federal stimulus will be used to restore state education subsidies cut back this year.

Superintendents from Maine met with Maine Department of Education Commissioner Sue Gendron Monday to learn more about how Maine schools can spend the $787 billion stimulus package passed by Congress in February.

The Department of Education is getting $135 million from the package. It will use part of the money to reimburse $27 million cut from General Purpose Aid to Education late last year and another $54 million to keep state subsidies at current levels in the 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 fiscal years, according to Scarborough Superintendent David Doyle.

Doyle said the Department of Education has yet to determine what it will do with the remaining $54 million. It could be used to bolster state education subsidies in future years or spent on other education needs.

“It makes it a lot easier,” Doyle said. “Things were looking bleak for a while.”

In November, the state cut $27 million in state subsidies to overcome a projected budget shortfall, forcing schools to scramble to save money.

Cape Elizabeth, South Portland and Scarborough each enacted spending freezes for items other than salaries and fringe benefits. Scarborough and South Portland also placed a moratorium on school field trips.

Scarborough will get back $781,000 it lost, Cape will recoup $441,000, and South Portland will have $830,000 restored to its budget.

Officials don’t know yet if that money will be spread out in payments in April and May or come in one lump sum in April, Doyle said. The state pays each school district a portion of its subsidy monthly.

Schools will also be allowed to roll over the reimbursement into the 2009/2010 fiscal year – important because many districts, unsure of how stimulus money would be allocated, had already budgeted to lose state subsidies this year.

“That helps a lot because we can’t realistically spend that much money in two months,” Doyle said. “It’s also a little strange because we’ve been told by the state for several months not to spend, now they’re telling us to spend because this is stimulus money.”

Cape Elizabeth is looking at several ways to boost education with the stimulus money, Superintendent Alan Hawkins said.

Hawkins, on Tuesday, was preparing a proposal to give to the School Board’s finance committee recommending spending the money on technology advancements such as teaching students how to better use technology in the 21st Century and assessing student learning.

“I’m looking to use this money to focus on those areas,” Hawkins said. “We will be looking to spend this money wisely and trying to advance the education of all our students.”

On March 10, Cape Elizabeth adopted a $20.2 million budget to give to the Town Council. The budget called for cutting three educational technicians from the Pond Cove School.

Educational technicians help teachers with clerical support, restock science kits and monitor students at lunch and recess.

Hawkins said he does not think the school department will reconsider those cuts.

“If we had cut a full-time teacher from the classroom, then I think we would consider changing the cut,” Hawkins said. “When I’m looking at (educational technicians), I recognize their value to the system, but I’m not convinced that I am looking at them to return to the way they were in the past.”

Scarborough was scheduled to adopt its $36 million budget on Thursday night. The stimulus money will allow the school to not cut staff, Doyle said.

“We were thinking we would need to do that, but this takes that discussion off the table,” he said.

Schools can spend the stimulus money on Title I programs, early childhood education, adult and family literacy programs, and special education programs, Hawkins said. They cannot spend the money on extra curricular programs, such as sports, and it cannot be spent on new construction, or buying or upgrading vehicles.

“It’s good news for now,” said Katharine Ray, a Cape Elizabeth School Board member. “Let’s hope it stays good news.”

South Portland Superintendent Suzanne Godin did not return calls for this story.