More Than $1 Billion in Recovery Funds Now Available for Georgia

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

May 11, 2009 -- U. S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today announced that more than $1 billion is now available for Georgia 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. Georgia will be eligible to apply for another $509 million this fall.

Today's funding is being made available per Georgia's successful completion of Part 1 of the State Stabilization Application, which was made available on April 1.

"The $1 billion Georgia 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. Georgia can now utilize these funds to save jobs and lay the groundwork for a generation of education reform."

To date, Georgia has received more than $356 million in education stimulus funds -- representing a combination of funding for Title I, IDEA, Vocational Rehabilitation Grants and Independent Living Grants and Services for Older Blind Individuals Grants. On April 1, Georgia received more than $176 million in Title I funding and $169 million in IDEA funding.

This represents 50 percent of the Title I and IDEA funding Georgia is eligible for in total. On April 1, Georgia also received $9 million in Vocational Rehab funds and $1 million in Independent Living funds. On April 10, Georgia received $806,000 in Impact Aid funding.

In order to receive today's funds, Georgia 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.

Georgia 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 Georgia and other state applications for initial funding under the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund Program at http://www.ed.gov/programs/statestabilization/resources.html.

Source: Dept. of Education