U. S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today announced that more than $625 million is now available for South Carolina 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. South Carolina will be eligible to apply for another $69 million this fall. Today's funding is being made available per South Carolina's successful completion of Part 1 of the State Stabilization Application, which was made available on April 1st.

"The $625 million South Carolina 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. South Carolina can now utilize these funds to save jobs and lay the groundwork for a generation of education reform."

To date, South Carolina has received more than $171 million in education stimulus funds—representing a combination of funding for Title I, IDEA, Vocational Rehabilitation Grants and Independent Living Grants. On April 1, South Carolina received more than $71 million in Title I funding and more than $93 million in IDEA funding. This represents 50 percent of the Title I and IDEA funding South Carolina is eligible for in total. On April 1, South Carolina also received $5 million in Vocational Rehab funds and $781,000 in Independent Living funds.

In order to receive today's funds, South Carolina 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.

South Carolina 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 South Carolina 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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