U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today announced that more than $321 million is now available for Utah 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. Utah will be eligible to apply for another $158 million this fall. Today's funding is being made available per Utah's successful completion of Part 1 of the State Stabilization Application, which was made available on April 1.

"The $321 million Utah 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. Utah can now utilize these funds to save jobs and lay the groundwork for a generation of education reform."

To date, Utah has received more than $86 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, Utah received nearly $25 million in Title I funding and $57 million in IDEA funding. This amount represents 50 percent of the total Title I and IDEA funding for which Utah is eligible. On April 1, Utah also received $3 million in Vocational Rehab funds and $437,219 in Independent Living funds. In addition, on April 10, the state received $19,197 in Impact Aid funding and nearly $670,000 in Homeless Education grants.

In order to receive today's funds, Utah provided assurances that it 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.

Utah 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 used.

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

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