U. S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today announced that more than $388 million is now available for Louisiana 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. Louisiana will be eligible to apply for another $191 million this fall. Today's funding is being made available per Louisiana's successful completion of Part 1 of the State Stabilization Application, which was made available on April 1st.

"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 $388 million Louisiana 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. Louisiana can now utilize these funds to save jobs and lay the groundwork for a generation of education reform."

To date, Louisiana has received more than $324 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 1st, Louisiana received $88.6 million in Title I funding and nearly $101 million in IDEA funding. This represents 50 percent of the Title I and IDEA funding Louisiana is eligible for in total. On April 1, Louisiana also received nearly $5 million in Vocational Rehab funds and more than $726,000 in Independent Living funds. On April 10, Louisiana received more than $173,000 in Impact Aid funding.

In order to receive today's funds, Louisiana 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.

Louisiana 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 Louisiana 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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