LYNWOOD — A teacher job measure signed by President Barack Obama Tuesday is welcome news for the Lynwood Unified School District.

“It’s stimulus money specifically set out to save teachers jobs,” said Bill Agopian, the school district’s business manager.

The approval of the Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act, which will provide an estimated $1.2 billion for California school districts, was also praised by state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell.

“In California, 16,500 teaching positions could be saved or created by approval of this urgently needed package, according to the U.S. Department of Education,” O’Connell said. “Without House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s strong leadership and swift action or the persistence of President Barack Obama, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), this education relief package would not have been possible. It provides an urgently needed Marshall Plan airlift for our schools.”

Agopian said he is not sure exactly how much money will come to Lynwood, but whatever the amount is, he knows it will help.

LUSD Superintendent Ed Velasquez, said that while he welcomes the funds, too, “it’s a temporary relief plan,” he said.

“It’s a Band-Aid fix … and I’m not real high on things like that,” he added. “All I know is that it’s to rehire laid-off teachers. That’s fine and dandy, but it’s not ongoing, it’s only a one-time thing, and it’s only going to save teachers for one year.”

Still, it’s better than nothing, Velasquez said.

The funds may not be enough to save jobs more than one year, but they may buy the school district’s new superintendent more time in turning “this place around,” he said.

The House bill, H.R. 1586, approved last week in the U.S. Senate, authorizes $10 billion in education funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Once enacted, the funds will be available in the 2010-11 school year to retain, recall or rehire former employees and to hire new employees to provide early childhood, elementary or secondary educational services.

The legislation is aimed at preventing the loss of an estimated 161,000 teacher jobs across the nation as children begin returning to their classrooms.

Funds may not be used for general administrative expenses.

Under the legislation, states may not use the funds directly or indirectly to establish, restore, or supplement a rainy day fund; supplant state funds to establish, restore, or supplement a rainy day fund; reduce or retire state debt; or supplant state funds to reduce or retire state debt.

The U.S. Department of Education has 45 days to award the funds, and governors have 30 days from enactment to submit their state’s application.

“We will work closely with the governor and his Secretary of Education Bonnie Reiss to submit a timely, well-written application so California’s funding is approved and reaches school districts as quickly as possible,” O’Connell said. “With these funds we hope to reduce the need for steep increases in class size this school year and keep more teachers; it is what parents want and children need,”

H.R. 1586 saves and creates almost 320,000 jobs, including those of firefighters and police officers in the Southland. The bill will save the jobs of 16,500 teachers in California alone and 307 jobs in Rep. Linda Sanchez’s 39th Congressional District, which includes Lynwood. The Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act is not only completely paid for, it also reduces the deficit by $1.4 billion over 10 years — in part by closing a loophole that encourages corporations to ship American jobs overseas.

“LUSD officials are currently in the process of evaluating the assurances of this money and what it means to our district,” Velasquez said. “We certainly welcome any and all additional funds in this economic climate that will directly support our teachers and students.”

Michael Jochum, the Lynwood Teacher’s Association newly elected vice president, said he estimates the stimulus money will help bring back between 30 to 50 teachers who received layoff notices in March.

It is too soon to tell what the funds will do for Lynwood’s dwindling teaching staff, “it has yet to be seen,” said Jochum, but if it brings back some of the district’s nearly 180 laid off teachers, some is better than none at all, he said.

The only thing he is sure of is that the district will not be bringing back all of the teachers who were laid off.

“I don’t anticipate that happening,” he said. “Everybody knows that [former Superintendent Dhyan] Lal was hiring everybody that he could from Dominguez Hills, since his wife worked over there, and that this district had more teachers than the staffing level needed to be, but at the same time, bringing back some of the teachers will alleviate the class size average too.”

From now until school starts, on Aug. 30, the district will have its plate full, Jochum said.

“They have a lot of work to do to make sure teachers are in the classrooms when school starts,” he said. “But it’s hard to do unless you have a better grasp of the number of teachers you are actually going to need. … There will be some transfers from school to school … but it’s not until enrollment gets going — which starts this month — that those enrollment levels start coming in. Then we will know how many teachers will be allowed to come back.”

Last year, a majority vote by the LTA voted to take an across the board three percent pay cut to save teachers from being laid off for one year. That was only a temporary relief plan, too, Jochum said. Those teachers were lost this year.