U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today announced that $85.4 million is now available for South Dakota 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 thousands of teaching jobs at risk of state and local budget cuts.

"The $85.4 million awarded to South Dakota today, along with the $38 million awarded to the state earlier this month, will help keep South Dakota teachers teaching and students learning," Duncan said. "This funding will not only stimulate the economy in the short term but serve as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to lift education to an entirely new level of excellence."

South Dakota is receiving $85.4 million today per the state's successful completion of Part 1 of the State Stabilization Application, which was made available April 1. Eighty two percent of these funds are to be distributed to public elementary, secondary and higher education institutions, with the remaining 18 percent to be available for education, school modernization, public safety, or other government services. South Dakota, Illinois and California are the first three states to successfully complete applications and be approved for the first round of state stabilization funding. South Dakota will be eligible to apply for another $42 million in state stabilization funds this fall.

To date, South Dakota has received nearly $38 million 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, South Dakota received $17.3 million in Title I funding and $17.6 million in IDEA funding. This amount represents 50 percent of the total Title I and IDEA funding for which South Dakota is eligible. On April 1, South Dakota also received nearly $1 million in Vocational Rehab funds and $246,000 in Independent Living funds. On April 10, South Dakota received $1.6 million in Impact Aid Funding and nearly $176,000 in Homeless Education grants.

In order to receive today's funds, South Dakota 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.

South Dakota is also 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 used.

To view South Dakota's application, please visit: http://www.ed.gov/programs/statestabilization/resources.html.

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