Over $321 Million in Recovery Funds Now Available for Mississippi

Application for Part 1 of Mississippi's State Stabilization Funds Approved Today

April 28, 2009 -- U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today announced that more than $321 million is now available for Mississippi 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. Mississippi will be eligible to apply for another $158 million this fall. Today's funding is being made available per Mississippi's successful completion of Part 1 of the State Stabilization Application, which was made available on April 1.

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"The $321 million Mississippi will receive today is part of the single largest boost in education funding in recent history," Duncan said. "The President's leadership and support from Congress have made this historic investment possible. Mississippi can now utilize these funds to save jobs and lay the groundwork for a generation of education reform."

To date, Mississippi has received nearly $135 million in education stimulus funds-- representing a combination of funding for Title I, IDEA, Vocational Rehabilitation grants, Independent Living grants and Homeless Education grants. On April 1, Mississippi received more than $66 million in Title I funding and more than $63 million in IDEA funding. This amount represents 50 percent of the total Title I and IDEA funding for which Mississippi is eligible. On April 1, Mississippi also received more than $3 million in Vocational Rehabilitation funds and $574,295 in Independent Living funds. In addition, on April 10, the state received $896,372 in Homeless Education grants.

In order to receive today's funds, Mississippi provided assurances that they 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.

Mississippi is also required by the U.S. 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.

Source: Dept. of Education