A surprise $1.7 million in federal funding will allow the Lancaster Central School District to bring back several teaching positions that were lost during the budget process in the spring.

During its meeting Monday night, the Lancaster Board of Education approved the return of what amounts to 6.7 teaching positions to the budget in the tenure areas of elementary, reading, English, math, social studies, business, foreign language and special education.

The funding is part of the Education Jobs Fund and Medicaid Legislation that President Barack Obama signed into law last week, allowing districts to preserve jobs. Superintendent Edward Myszka said that the district was required to re-establish positions.

“These monies are not to be used for raises,” he said.

The district will receive the $1.7 million during the course of two years.

Myszka said that more funding could be headed to Lancaster since the state was awarded nearly $700 million in the recent federal Race to the Top competition, but he stressed that most of the funding would probably go to large city school districts. He added that there is no way to tell now how much Lancaster could receive.

Also during the meeting, the School Board approved the appointment of Brian Wild as athletic director. A 1989 graduate of Lancaster High School, Wild has been with the district since 1993, most recently as a physical education teacher at the high school. He also is the assistant varsity football and the head junior varsity baseball coach. He succeeds Len Jankiewicz, who retired after 17 years in the position. Jankiewicz will remain Lancaster’s head football coach for 2010.

Other appointments included Amy Moeller as assistant principal of Lancaster Middle School and Steven Smith as assistant principal of William Street School.

The board also approved the transfer of about $1.2 million from the School Bus Reserve Fund to the general fund for the purchase of 11 vehicles. The cost is about $20,000 lower than the amount residents approved during the budget vote in May, officials said.

Board President Marie MacKay also offered a report on the recent school supply distribution at the Lancaster Youth Bureau, during which she volunteered. She said that 350 families were assisted during the event, and she expressed appreciation for the work of the bureau staff and student volunteers.

“They did an outstanding job,” she said.

The next meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 13, in the auditorium at Lancaster High School, 1 Forton Drive.