U. S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today announced that more than $70 million is now available for North Dakota 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. North Dakota will be eligible to apply for another $34.6 million this fall. Today’s funding is being made available per North Dakota’s successful completion of Part 1 of the State Stabilization Application, which was made available on April 1st.

“The $70 million North Dakota 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. North Dakota can now utilize these funds to save jobs and lay the groundwork for a generation of education reform.”

To date, North Dakota has received $31 million in education stimulus funds—representing a combination of funding for Title I, IDEA, Vocational Rehabilitation Grants, Independent Living Grants and Impact Aid. On April 1, North Dakota received $14 million in Title I funding and $15 million in IDEA funding. This represents 50 percent of the Title I and IDEA funding North Dakota is eligible for in total. On April 1, North Dakota also received more than $900,000 in Vocational Rehab funds and $246,000 in Independent Living funds. On April 10, North Dakota received more than $1million in Impact Aid funding.

In order to receive today’s funds, North Dakota 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.

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

###

Top

Back to June 2009