U. S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today announced that more than $357 million is now available for Kentucky 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. Kentucky will be eligible to apply for another $176 million this fall. Today’s funding is being made available per Kentucky’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 $357 million Kentucky 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. Kentucky can now utilize these funds to save jobs and lay the groundwork for a generation of education reform.”

To date, Kentucky has received nearly $288 million in education stimulus funds– representing a combination of funding for Title I, IDEA, Vocational Rehabilitation Grants, Independent Living Grants and Government Services funds. On April 1st, Kentucky received nearly $78 million in Title I funding and $87 million in IDEA funding. This represents 50 percent of the Title I and IDEA funding Kentucky is eligible for in total. On April 1, Kentucky also received nearly $5 million in Vocational Rehab funds and more than $751,000 in Independent Living funds.

In order to receive today’s funds, Kentucky 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.

Kentucky 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 Kentucky 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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