U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today announced that $806 million is now available for Virginia 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. Virginia will be eligible to apply for another $397 million this fall. Today's funding is being made available per Virginia's successful completion of Part 1 of the State Stabilization Application, which was made available on April 1st.

"The $806 million Virginia 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. Virginia can now utilize these funds to save jobs and lay the groundwork for a generation of education reform."

To date, Virginia has received $240 million in education stimulus funds—representing a combination of funding for Title I, IDEA, Vocational Rehabilitation Grants and Independent Living Grants. On April 1st, Virginia received $83 million in Title I funding and $151 million in IDEA funding. This represents 50% of the Title I and IDEA funding Virginia is eligible for in total. On April 1st, Virginia also received $6 million in Vocational Rehab funds and $1 million in Independent Living funds.

In order to receive today's funds, Virginia 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.

Virginia 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 Virginia 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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