Nearly $4 Billion in Recovery Funds Now Available for California to Save Jobs and Drive Reform

Application for Part 1 of California's State Stabilization Funds Approved Today

April 17, 2009 -- U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today announced that nearly $4 billion is now available for California under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. This funding will lay the foundation for a generation of education reform and help save hundreds of thousands of teaching jobs at risk of state and local budget cuts. California will be eligible to apply for another $2 billion this fall. Today's funding is being made available per California's successful completion of Part 1 of the State Stabilization Application, which was made available April 1. California is the first state to be approved for the first round of state stabilization funding.

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"The $4 billion that California will receive today is part of the single largest boost in education funding in recent history," Duncan said. "The President's leadership and support from Congress have made this historic investment possible. California can now utilize these funds to save jobs and lay the groundwork for a generation of education reform."

To date, California has received nearly $1.3 billion in education stimulus funds-- representing a combination of funding for Title I, IDEA, Vocational Rehabilitation Grants, Independent Living Grants, Impact Aid dollars and Homeless Education Grants. On April 1, California received more than $562 million in Title I funding and more than $660 million in IDEA funding. This represents 50 percent of the funding for Title I and IDEA funding that California is eligible for in total. On April 1, California also received more than $28 million in Vocational Rehab funds and more than $5 million in Independent Living funds. One April 10, California received nearly $1.5 million in Impact Aid Funding and nearly $14 million in Homeless Education grants.

In order to receive today's funds, California provided assurances that they will collect, publish, analyze and act on basic information regarding the quality of classroom teachers, annual student improvements, college readiness, the effectiveness of state standards and assessments, progress on removing charter caps, and interventions in turning around underperforming schools.

California also is required by the U.S. Department of Education to report the number of jobs saved through Recovery Act funding, the amount of state and local tax increases averted and how funds are being used. To view California's application, please visit: http://www.ed.gov/programs/statestabilization/resources.html.

Source: Dept. of Education