It appears as though many school districts throughout Texas aren’t doing a good enough job at keeping track of how many jobs have been created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

According to an article by The Dallas Morning News, that revelation led the Texas Education Agency to warn the school districts involved, and the agency recently sent a letter to state school districts notifying them of the problems.

The letter notes that brief audits of about 150 school districts found those districts did not properly track the number of jobs created by the ARRA and did not properly describe the jobs that were created. In addition, some districts failed to report payments of more than $25,000.

“It’s really paperwork problems,” Rita Chase, director of financial audits for the TEA, said. “We have not found any glaring misuse of funds.”

After it passed the ARRA early last year, the federal government set specific rules regarding how agencies receiving funding should report the use of their awards. The TEA now has four full-time auditors working on making sure that education funding is spent and reported correctly.

The State of Texas as a whole is expected to receive about $7 billion in education funding from the ARRA, which is scheduled to end next year.

The Dallas-Plano-Irving area’s education and health services industry employed 255,600 workers during October, which is up from 252,700 workers during September and a 4.1 percent increase from last year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Post-secondary English language and literature teachers conduct courses on various aspects of English language and literature, including linguistics and comparative literature. These employees may primarily teach students or split their time between teaching and research.

The amount of education needed to become a post-secondary teacher depends on both the subject you want to teach and the educational institution in which you want to work. However, most employees have either a master’s degree or doctoral degree. Employers also may perform a Texas background check on you.

There were about 1.7 million post-secondary teachers throughout the nation during 2008, and about 74,800 of those positions belonged to English language and literature teachers, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Employment of all post-secondary teachers is expected to grow by 15 percent by 2018. The majority of these employees work full-time in colleges or universities, while others work as graduate teaching assistants, and about 29 percent work part time.

According to the Texas Workforce Commission, 61.67 percent of post-secondary English language and literature teachers in the Houston area work in junior colleges, while 37.57 percent work in colleges, universities, and professional schools.

In the Houston area, employment of post-secondary English language and literature teachers is anticipated to increase by 45.8 percent by 2016. There will be about 20 openings per year due to replacement and about 55 openings per year due to job growth.

Employment throughout Texas should increase by 33.7 percent, from 4,900 workers to 6,550 workers, between 2006 and 2016. There will be about 80 openings per year due to replacement and about 165 openings per year due to job growth.

During 2009, the average wage for post-secondary English language and literature teachers in the Houston area was $34.64 per hour, while the average wage for these employees throughout Texas was $30.57 per hour.

The median wage for all post-secondary teachers across America was $58,830 per year during 2008, with the middle 50 percent of employees earning between $41,600 per year and $83,960 per year; the lowest 10 percent earning less than $28,870 per year; and the highest 10 percent earning more than $121,850 per year.

Post-secondary history teachers typically work in colleges, universities, or other higher-education institutions to teach students about human history and historiography. This includes both teachers who solely teach and those who teach and conduct research.

The education required to become a history teacher depends on the educational institution. Four-year colleges and universities typically require candidates to have a doctoral degree, while research universities usually require applicants to have a Ph.D.

There were about 1.7 million post-secondary teachers throughout America during 2008, and about 26,000 of those positions belonged to history teachers, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The post-secondary teaching industry as a whole is expected to grow by 15 percent by 2018.

Employment of post-secondary history teachers throughout Texas is anticipated to increase from 1,700 workers during 2006 to 2,300 workers by 2016, resulting in 600 additional jobs and an overall growth rate of 35.3 percent, according to the Texas Workforce Commission.

Colleges, universities, and professional schools employ about 56.76 percent of post-secondary history teachers in the San Antonio area, while junior colleges employ about 42.97 percent of employees in the sector.

During 2009, the average wage for post-secondary history teachers throughout Texas was $33.52 per hour, while the average wage for those across the nation was $33.31 per hour.

Gov. Jan Brewer recently announced that the state will provide $100,000 to Science Foundation Arizona to create a Statewide STEM Action Network. That network will work to form a proactive and integrated approach for education in science, technology, engineering, and math.

Along with support from state, private and philanthropic entities, Science Foundation Arizona will provide the leadership and infrastructure necessary to manage the STEM Action Network. Funding for the network will come from the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

“The seed funds used for this initiative will lay the foundation for Arizona students for years to come and
will give them the skills needed to succeed in today’s competitive workforce,” Brewer said. “Arizona’s economic future is tied to its educational success.

“This program will be a public private partnership with the goal to increase achievement for all students through STEM education,” she added.

Although the STEM initiative places a strong emphasis on low-performing, low-income, and other underrepresented student populations, it is meant to benefit all students and teachers throughout Arizona.

“Devoting energy to an aggressive action plan for strengthening and expanding STEM education shows there is a commitment to ensuring children are well-equipped to become successful in school and in life,” Darcy Renfro, vice president of Science Foundation Arizona and executive director of STEM Initiatives, said. “The Governor’s support will help science and math inspire young people and fuel their curiosity to seek answers and solve problems of local and global significance that will advance our state and our country.”

The overall goal for leaders throughout Arizona is to ensure that students who graduate from high school are prepared to succeed in college and careers in the new economy by providing effective instruction to students each year.

Gov. Jan Brewer recently announced that the State of Arizona has officially submitted its application for the second round of Race to the Top to the U.S. Department of Education. Winners of the competitive grant program will be announced in late August or early September.

“Arizona’s innovative and entrepreneurial history of education reform and recent legislative actions make clear that no matter if the state is chosen to receive a Race to the Top grant, the conditions are in place to transform Arizona schools for decades to come,” Brewer said.

Arizona’s Race to the Top plan focuses on goals that will raise student achievement in reading and mathematics, narrow achievement gaps, improve high school graduation rates, and increase college and career readiness.

In addition, the plan sets high goals for AIMS scores, National Assessment of Educational Progress scores, and high school and graduation rates by 2020.

“In the global knowledge economy of the 21st century, Arizona’s continued prosperity depends on innovation – and innovation depends upon the investments we make in the talents of our citizens,” William Harris, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of Science Foundation Arizona, said. “We must invest strategically in initiatives that enhance student math and science learning statewide, and this opportunity will significantly impact our ability to succeed.”

So far, Brewer has received more than 70 letters of support from education, government, business, community and philanthropic leaders throughout the state, as well as Memoranda of Understanding from 389 school districts and charter schools.

Staffing, recruitment and placement professionals are often viewed as the most visible and important part of human resources. According to an article by HRGuru, this is because staffing is the first entry point of prospective employees to the company.

Recruitment professionals may be responsible for: creating a company staffing strategy, sourcing candidates, screening and conducting preliminary interviews of candidates, conducting background checks, and communicating decisions and compensation information.

Staffing and recruitment professionals who work with larger companies may be involved with workforce planning, such as projecting skills and attributes that will be required in the future based on the business strategy and current demographics of the current workforce.

There are opportunities in this industry across many occupations for individuals with a variety of skill levels and experience. The average salary for recruitment and staffing professionals is $43,000 per year.

While the majority of temp jobs only require workers to have a high school diploma, some permanent jobs, such as those in management, may require workers to have at least a bachelor’s degree. It is predicted that as the industry grows, so will the number of jobs requiring advanced degrees.

Recruitment and staffing professionals must have a certain set of skills, including the ability to relate to different types of people, find less-than-obvious data, be aggressive and take “no” for an answer, and the ability to negotiate and work up to mutually beneficial agreements.

The outlook for these workers is mainly a bright one. Staffing and recruiting has long been one of the fastest growing industries, and although future job growth is expected to continue faster-than-average, that growth will represent a decrease from the industry’s growth during the 1990s.

Overall, the industry should gain about 692,000 new jobs between 2006 and 2016. At the same time, wage and salary employment in the employment services industry is expected to increase by 19 percent, which is higher than the 11 percent projected growth rate for all industries.

The Orlando-Kissimmee area’s education and health services industry employed 120,000 workers during December 2009, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is the same as during November and a .2 percent increase from December 2008.

Educators in the area can expect to be paid relatively well. According to Salary.com, the average pay for a public school teacher in Orlando is between $41,493 per year and $ 55,114 per year.

The city’s public primary and secondary education system is run by Orange County Public Schools, according to Wikipedia. The district is currently composed of 180 regular-attendance schools, including 119 elementary schools, 36 middle schools and 20 high schools.

The district also offers an adult education system with six campuses and night classes at most high schools; four special education schools; a hospital and homebound program; and many alternative education centers, including charter schools.

All of the schools OCPS controls are divided into six “Learning Communities,” including: North, East, West, Southeast, Southwest and Central. All of the schools foster a culturally-diverse environment, with most paperwork available in both English and Spanish. In addition, many schools offer documents in Portuguese, Vietnamese and Haitian Creole.

The area also is home to many private schools, the most notable of which include: Orlando Lutheran Academy, Forest Lake Academy, The First Academy, Trinity Preparatory School, Lake Highland Preparatory School, Bishop Moore High School and Orlando Christian Prep.

When it comes to higher-education, the Orlando area is home to two state universities, the University of Central Florida and Florida A&M University College of Law, and two state colleges, Valencia Community College and Seminole State College of Florida.

There also are many private colleges and universities in the area, including:

• Asbury Theological Seminary
• Columbia College
• DeVry University
• Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law
• Florida Institute of Technology
• Florida Metropolitan University
• Full Sail University
• Herzing College
• Hindu University of America
• International Academy of Design & Technology-Orlando
• McBurney College
• Nova Southeastern University
• Reformed Theological Seminary
• Rollins College
• Strayer University
• University of Florida College of Pharmacy
• University of Phoenix
• Webster University

During December 2009, the San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos area’s unemployment rate decreased from 10.3 percent to 10.1 percent, following a decrease from 10.7 percent during November. Despite that decrease, the area’s unemployment rate is still slightly higher than the national rate of 10 percent.

The San Diego area had a total non-farm employment of 1,248,400 workers during December, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is down from 1,250,000 workers during November and a 3.3 percent decrease from December 2008.

Only two industries saw a monthly increase in employment, including trade, transportation and utilities by 2,000 workers and education and health services by 200 jobs. Employment in the mining and logging, construction and information industries remained steady over the month, with 300 workers, 65,100 workers and 37,300 workers, respectively.

The other services industry was the only one that managed to add jobs when compared to the previous year. The industry employed 49,000 workers during December, down from 49,100 workers during November, but a .4 percent increase from December 2008.

The construction industry took the biggest hit when compared to the previous year, losing 8.1 percent of its workforce from December 2008 to December 2009. Surprisingly, even the ever-stable education and health services industry saw a yearly decrease in employment, losing .4 percent of its workforce.

Other industries that saw an over-the-year decrease in employment include:

• manufacturing by 6.5 percent
• trade, transportation and utilities by 3.9 percent
• information by 5.6 percent
• financial activities by 2.7 percent
• professional and business services by 4.3 percent
• leisure and hospitality by 4.5 percent
• government by .6 percent

The Austin Community College District recently announced that it will create an additional 100 full-time staff positions in order to keep up with increasing enrollment. It is expected there will be openings in all fields, with positions ranging from cashiers to campus police to media technology specialists.

“This new hiring reflects ACC’s commitment to expanding our faculty and staff base as enrollment increases,” Dr. Stephen B. Kinslow, president and CEO of the Austin Community College District, told the Austin Business Journal. “We want to ensure all students have access to the same high-quality education and support services as ACC grows.”

In addition to the new hires, ACC also is planning to open its new Round Rock campus next fall. That campus will eventually measure about 600,000 square feet and serve about 11,500 students.

The hiring and expansion at ACC is a welcome contrast to the layoffs taking place at the University of Texas at Austin. That school has cut jobs across all departments in an effort to control costs and total eliminations are expected to reach 350 positions by the end of the year.

The new jobs will add to the Austin area’s thriving education industry, which has continued to see an increase in monthly and yearly employment, despite the current economic recession.

The Austin-Round Rock area’s education and health services industry employed 85,600 workers during October, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is up from 84,700 workers during September and a 4 percent increase from last year.

Throughout Texas as a whole, the education and health services industry employed 1,372,800 workers during October, up from 1,357,900 workers during September and a 4.5 percent increase from last year.

The October unemployment rate has not yet been released for the Dallas area, however, Texas as a whole saw its unemployment rate increase from 8.2 percent to 8.3 percent last month, which is lower than the national unemployment rate of 10.2 percent.

The Dallas-Plano-Irving area had a total non-farm employment of 2,060,600 during October, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is up from 2,054,600 workers during September, but a 2.5 percent decrease from last year.

Five industries managed to see a monthly increase in employment, including: trade, transportation and utilities by 1,200 jobs; information by 200 jobs; professional and business services by 1,900 jobs; education and health services by 3,100 jobs; and government by 6,400 jobs.

It was the education and health services industry, however, that saw the biggest increase in employment when compared to last year. That industry employed 254,200 workers during October, up from 251,100 workers during September and an 8.9 percent increase from last year.

The government industry also added jobs on a yearly basis, employing 270,600 workers during October, up from 264,200 workers during September and a .3 percent increase from last year.

On the other end of the scale, the other services industry took the biggest hit when compared to last year. That industry employed 65,800 workers during October, down from 67,300 workers during September and an 8.9 percent decrease from last year.

Other industries that saw an over-the-year decrease in employment include:

• mining, logging and construction by 8.2 percent
• manufacturing by 2.8 percent
• trade, transportation and utilities by 4.9 percent
• information by 4.4 percent
• financial activities by 3.2 percent
• professional and business services by 5.7 percent
• leisure and hospitality by 1.3 percent