More Than $45 Million in Recovery Funds Now Available for Wyoming to Save Jobs and Drive Education Reform
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U. S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today announced that $45 million is now available for Wyoming 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. Wyoming will be eligible to apply for another $22 million this fall. Today’s funding is being made available per Wyoming’s successful completion of Part 1 of the State Stabilization Application, which was made available on April 1.
“The Recovery Act was designed to meet two critical challenges: rescue the economy from the immediate peril it faces and invest in the building blocks of a strong economy,” Secretary Duncan explained. “The Recovery Act investments in our students and our schools will have a huge payoff in the years ahead.”
“The $45 million Wyoming will receive today is part of the single largest boost in education funding in recent history,” said Duncan. “The President’s leadership and support from Congress have made this historic investment possible. Wyoming can now utilize these funds to save jobs and lay the groundwork for a generation of education reform.”
To date, Wyoming has received more than $44 million in education stimulus funds—representing a combination of funding for Title I, IDEA, Vocational Rehabilitation Grants, Independent Living Grants, Impact Aid and Government Services funds. On April 1, Wyoming received more than $13 million in Title I funding and nearly $14.5 million in IDEA funding. This represents 50 percent of the Title I and IDEA funding Wyoming is eligible for in total. On April 1, Wyoming also received $900,000 in Vocational Rehab funds and more than $246,000 in Independent Living funds. On April 10, Wyoming received nearly $406,000 in Impact Aid funding.
In order to receive today’s funds, Wyoming 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.
Wyoming is also required by the 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.
See Wyoming and other state applications for initial funding under the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund Program at http://www.ed.gov/programs/statestabilization/resources.html.