Congressman Faleomavaega announced today that American Samoa is eligible for $44,618,528 million under the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF), a one-time new program that was appropriated for in the American Recovery Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).  Based on information received from the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE), applications are now available and the Territories have until August 1, 2009 to submit requests for these funds.

Under the ARRA, Congress appropriated $53.6 billion over FY2009 and FY2010, 0.5-percent of which to be allocated to the U.S. Territories, for a State Fiscal Stabilization Fund.  Over the two year period, the Territories would receive a total of $268 million.  The law also provided that distribution of the funds for the Territories would be based on the discretion of the Secretary of the USDOE in consultation with the Secretary of Interior.

“I want to thank Secretary Duncan of the Department of Education and Secretary Salazar of the Department of Interior for recognizing the unique challenges and needs facing educational systems in the Territories,” Faleomavaega said.  “I also want to thank Congresswoman Bordallo, Congresswoman Christensen, and Congressman Sablan for their support and effort to ensure the Territories are included in the Stabilization program.”

After several meetings with DOI officials, and including also input from the representatives of the Territories, the USDOE has decided to use the same statutory funding formula for the States to distribute funding to the Territories.  Under this distribution mechanism, funds are allocated using two population measures:

1. 61-percent of each Territory’s grant would be based on the respective Territory’s relative population of individuals ages 5-24, and
2. 39-percent would be based on the Territory’s relative total population.

The final breakdown is as follows:

American Samoa  $44,618,528

CNMI   $44,433,595

Guam   $107,983,137

Virgin Islands  $70,964,740

 The funding will enable the Territories, in consultation with U.S. Department of Education to accomplish the following goals:

1. Improvement of teacher effectiveness in public elementary and secondary schools;
2. establish longitudinal data system; 
3. improvement in academic standards and evaluation; 
4. modernization and renovation of public school facilities; 
5. improvement of technology infrastructure used for classroom instructions; and 
6. establish a credible financial management system.

“Improvement of our educational system is vital to the future of our Territory and subsequently the United States. This is also in line with the general theme of the Stimulus package and President Obama’s strategic goals for development,” Faleomavaega concluded.