News
April 2, 2009
more than $400 million in education recovery act dollars allocated to iowa, harkin announces
WASHINGTON, D.C. – More than $400 million in federal dollars for education initiatives under the Economic Recovery Package was allocated to Iowa yesterday, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) announced. The goals of the funding are to help save and create teaching jobs, maintain essential learning programs, expand college access and advance critically needed education reforms. The recovery package includes the largest one-time investment in education in the nation’s history, more than $100 billion nationally.
“The Economic Recovery Package invests in our most important resource, our people, by ensuring states get the funding they need as soon as possible to target the most vulnerable,” said Harkin. “These education dollars come to Iowa at a critical time and will be put to use immediately following guidelines that will increase accountability while at the same time boosting education opportunities so our students can thrive.”
The Department released the first half of the funding for the following programs: Title I grants to school districts ($25,748,511); IDEA grants to states ($61,047,567); IDEA preschool grants ($2,070,699); and IDEA grants to infants and families ($1,935,509). The other half of the funding for these programs will be available later this year. The Department also released $3,100,768 for vocational rehabilitation and independent living, so people with disabilities can seek employment opportunities and have the necessary supports and training, and $378,516 for services for older individuals who are blind. In addition, the Department announced that two-thirds of Iowa’s allocation from the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund ($316,467,493) will be available after the State completes an application that was released yesterday. This fund will help local school districts and public colleges and universities avoid layoffs. All told, the funding announced yesterday from the Economic Recovery Package totals $413,606,917. Last month, Harkin announced more than $50 million in preliminary allocations for Title I funding for Iowa. The Iowa Department will make final allocations in the next few weeks.
“We are thankful for the stimulus dollars and are looking forward to using the funds to advance education reforms that improve student achievement, especially for those who struggle the most,” said Judy Jeffrey, Director of the Iowa Department of Education. “With the stimulus funding, K-12 school districts can balance saving education jobs and making necessary reforms to improve student outcomes. We are thankful to the U.S. Department of Education for partnering with states to achieve our common goals.”
The guidelines released yesterday promote comprehensive education reform by receiving commitments from states 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. Specifically, the law requires states to show:
• Improvements in teacher effectiveness and ensuring that all schools have highly qualified teachers;
• Progress toward college and career-ready standards and rigorous assessments that will improve both teaching and learning;
• Improvements in achievement in low-performing schools, by providing intensive support and effective interventions in those schools;
• That they can gather information to improve student learning, teacher performance and college and career-readiness through enhanced data systems that track progress.
