U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today announced that $165 million is now available for Idaho 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. Idaho will be eligible to apply for another $81 million this fall. Today's funding is being made available per Idaho's successful completion of Part 1 of the State Stabilization Application, which was made available on April 1st.

"The $165 million Idaho 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. Idaho can now utilize these funds to save jobs and lay the groundwork for a generation of education reform."

To date, Idaho has received more than $48 million in education stimulus funds—representing a combination of funding for Title I, IDEA, Vocational Rehabilitation Grants and Independent Living Grants. On April 1st, Idaho received more than $17 million in Title I funding and $29 million in IDEA funding. This represents 50% of the Title I and IDEA funding Idaho is eligible for in total. On April 1st, Idaho also received nearly $2 million in Vocational Rehab funds and $332 thousand in Independent Living funds.

In order to receive today's funds, Idaho 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.

Idaho 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 Idaho 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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