education
$44 Billion in Stimulus Funds
Available to Drive Education Reforms
and Save Teaching Jobs
S
ecretary of Education Arne Dun- cation and guidelines for $32.6 billion That they can gather information to
can announced on April 1st that under the State Stabilization Fund, repre- improve student learning, teacher per-
$44 billion for states and schools senting two-thirds of the total dollars in formance, and college and career-
is now available under the American the Fund. This includes $26.6 billion to readiness through enhanced data sys-
Recovery and Reinvestment Act save jobs and improve K-12 and higher tems that track progress.
(ARRA) of 2009. This funding will lay education and a separate $6 billion in a The guidelines also require states to
the foundation for a generation of edu- Government Services Fund to pay for report the number of jobs saved
cation reform and help save hundreds education, public safety or other govern- through Recovery Act funding, the
of thousands of teaching jobs at risk of ment services. amount of state and local tax increases
state and local budget cuts. Funds in the first round will be averted, and how funds are used. It fur-
Duncan made his announcement at released within two weeks of an appli- ther requires that the bulk of the feder-
Doswell Brooks Elementary School in cation’s approval. A second round of al dollars be spent on education.
Capitol Heights, Md. He was joined by stabilization funds will be released Part 2 of the State Stabilization
Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, later in the year. A third round of fund- Fund Application, available later this
Congresswoman Donna Edwards (D- ing, the Race to the Top competitive year, will allow states to apply for the
Md.), Maryland State School Superin- grant program will reward states that last third of the stabilization funds,
tendent Nancy Grasmick, Interim have made the most progress on which includes $13.1 billion for educa-
Superintendent of Prince George’s reforms. tion and $2.9 billion designated for the
County Public Schools, William Hite, The guidelines released promote Government Services Fund. Guidelines
Jr., County Executive Jack B. Johnson, comprehensive education reform by for Part 2 require states to submit the
Maryland State Teachers Association receiving commitments from states required data or provide an explanation
President Clara Floyd and Prince that they will collect, publish, analyze of why the data is currently unavailable
George’s County Education Associa- and act on basic information regarding and a plan for collecting the data by
tion President Donald Briscoe. the quality of classroom teachers, 2011.
The Prince George’s County School annual student improvements, college Finally, $5 billion in competitive
District is facing a $155 million budg- readiness, the effectiveness of state grants, the “Race to the Top” fund, will
et gap for next year. School officials standards and assessments, progress on be awarded to states that are most
estimate the district will receive at least removing charter caps, and interven- aggressively pursuing reforms. In order
$142 million from the stimulus pack- tions in turning around underperform- to ensure that Recovery Act funds are
age over the next two years. ing schools. Specifically, the law driving classroom improvements,
Governor O’Malley saluted the requires states to show: states competing for Race to the Top
administration for the reform elements Improvements in teacher effective- funds will be judged on how well they
of the package saying, “President ness and commitments that all schools are using the first round of stabilization
Obama and Secretary Duncan have put have highly qualified teachers; and Title I funds to advance education
a bold education reform plan in place Progress toward college and career- reforms.
that will invest in our schools, our stu- ready standards and rigorous assess- “Every dollar we spend must
dents and our teachers. But each State ments that will improve both teaching advance reforms and improve learning.
must play their part to show how these and learning; We are putting real money on the line
dollars will be spent, and to move for- Improvements in achievement in to challenge every state to push harder
ward on a path to progress in our low-performing schools, by providing and do more for its children,” Duncan
schools.” intensive support and effective inter- said. HNM
The announcement includes the appli- ventions in those schools. Source:
www.ed.gov
56 Celebrating over 15 Years of Embracing Diversity WWW.HNMAGAZINE.COM
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