News
January 27, 2009
harkin: senate stimulus will create jobs, modernize schools in iowa
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) today joined his colleagues on the Senate Appropriations Committee in unveiling a job creation measure to spur the nation’s flailing economy. The bill is expected to be marked up by Senate Appropriations Committee tomorrow with hopes of reaching the President’s desk by early February. Harkin is Chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee that funds education initiatives.
The plan includes approximately $820 million for education initiatives in Iowa.
“The economy is now shedding an average of 17,000 jobs a day, and new home foreclosures are averaging 9,000 a day. We are facing what could be the deepest, longest recession since the Great Depression and economists across the political spectrum agree that we need a massive stimulus package to help revive the economy,” said Harkin. “I believe we can create jobs and jolt our economy back to life while also rebuilding our schools. That’s what this plan does.”
Education
“Clearly, investing in infrastructure and directly creating jobs must be a key part of the stimulus bill. I have included $626 million in new funding to help Iowa school districts stabilize budgets and prevent tax increases and deep cuts to critical education programs,” said Harkin. “In addition, I included $79 million to repair and renovate our public schools with a priority given to green projects. My colleagues and I also included $46 million for the renovation of higher education facilities and for equipment.”
“A portion of these funds are reserved for community colleges, bearing in mind that it is the community colleges that often train workers for the jobs that will be become available in our new economy,” said Harkin. “We need to make sure that they have the equipment and facilities to train tomorrow’s workforce.”
Below are the approximate investments Iowa could see if the Senate bill is passed and signed into law by the president.
Iowa
• State Fiscal Stabilization Fund: $626 million in new funds to help Iowa school districts stabilize budgets and prevent tax increases and deep cuts to critical education programs. Nationally, the funding includes approximately $39 billion to local school districts and public colleges and universities distributed through existing state and federal formulas; $15 billion to states as incentive grants as a reward for meeting key performance measures; and $25 billion to states for other high-priority needs such as public safety and other critical services, which may include education.
• Title I: $55 million for Iowa to help close the achievement gap and enable disadvantaged students to reach their potential.
• School Modernization: $79 million to repair, renovate and construct public schools in Iowa in ways that will raise energy efficiency and provide greater access to information technology and $46 million to improve higher education facilities.
Nationwide
• Education Technology: $1 billion to provide up-to-date computers and other hardware and software and teacher training.
• Special Education/IDEA: $13 billion to improve educational outcomes for disabled children. This level of funding will increase the Federal share of special education services to its highest level ever.
• IDEA Early Childhood Education: $500 million for formula grants to help states serve children with disabilities age 2 and younger. Additionally, at least 15 percent of funds available from the $13 billion investment in Part B Grants for Special Education must be used for services to pre-school-age disabled children.
• Education for the Homeless: $70 million to provide transportation and other critical services to the growing number of children whose families have lost their homes because of the foreclosure crisis and rising unemployment.
• Pell Grants: $13.9 billion to increase the Pell Grant maximum award and pay for increases in program costs resulting from increased eligibility and higher Pell Grant awards. The bill supports an increased Pell Grant maximum award of $281 in the 2009-2010 academic year and $400 in the 2010-2011 academic year. This aid will help 7 million students pursue postsecondary education.
• Improving Teacher Quality: $100 million for competitive grants to address teacher shortages and strengthen teacher preparation and support activities.
• Child Care Development Block Grant: $2 billion to provide quality child care services for an additional 300,000 children in low-income families who increasingly are unable to afford the high cost of day care.
• Head Start & Early Head Start: $2.1 billion to allow an additional 124,000 children to participate in this program, which provides development, educational, health, nutritional, social and other activities that prepare children to succeed in school.
