U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today announced that more than $363 million is now available for Connecticut 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. Connecticut will be eligible to apply for another $179 million this fall. Today's funding is being made available per Connecticut's successful completion of Part 1 of the State Stabilization Application, which was made available on April 1st.

"The $363 million Connecticut 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. Connecticut can now utilize these funds to save jobs and lay the groundwork for a generation of education reform."

"This funding will go a long way towards helping school districts in Connecticut obtain the critical resources they need to provide our children with a first-rate education," said Senator Chris Dodd. "I believe that every single child in America deserves that opportunity and this unprecedented federal investment in Connecticut schools ensures that our children will be prepared for future success. I was pleased to work with President Obama and Secretary Duncan to secure these important funds for our state."

Congressman John B. Larson (CT-01), Chairman of the Democratic Caucus, said, "Our economic recovery is based on short term help and long term solutions. This funding will help stave off teacher layoffs and create new jobs in education. As the same time it makes important investments in the workforce of the future with funding for key education programs. I have been a long-time advocate for the full funding of IDEA and Title I and the Recovery Act gets us closer to that goal."

To date, Connecticut has received $109 million in education stimulus funds—representing a combination of funding for Title I, IDEA, Vocational Rehabilitation Grants and Independent Living Grants. On April 1, Connecticut received more than $35 million in Title I funding and more than $71 million in IDEA funding. This represents 50 percent of the Title I and IDEA funding Connecticut is eligible for in total. On April 1, Connecticut also received $1.7 million in Vocational Rehab funds and $671,000 in Independent Living funds.

In order to receive today's funds, Connecticut 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.

Connecticut 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 Connecticut and other state applications for initial funding under the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund Program at http://www.ed.gov/programs/statestabilization/resources.html.

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