California Gov. Schwarzenegger Announces Education Recovery Act Dollars Available to California Schools

04/18/2009 -- California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that California school districts and universities can immediately begin applying for $3.1 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) dollars meant to prevent the need for laying off teachers, professors, and other school employees, and to protect education funding and reform efforts in this difficult economic time. The Governor and the U.S. Department of Education yesterday announced that California was the first state in the nation to be approved for a share of the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund dollars within the Recovery Act.

“When President Obama signed the Recovery Act, I pledged to quickly make sure California taps into every available dollar of federal funding and that we would put those dollars to work immediately and effectively,” said Governor Schwarzenegger. “Today I am proud to say that California is the very first state to receive this money from the federal government and we are the first state to pass these dollars immediately to local school districts and protect teachers’ jobs. I will continue to fight for every available dollar to Recovery Act funding and am committed to sending those dollars quickly out into our schools, into our communities and into our economy.”

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School districts can apply for their funds through an application process managed by Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell and administered through the California Department of Education (CDE). Schools can find the application on CDE’s Web site at www.cde.ca.gov.

“The Obama Administration has acted with tremendous efficiency in awarding these funds to California,” Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell said. “I now urge our local education agencies to quickly apply for these monies. My staff collaborated with the Schwarzenegger administration to create a simple online application for these stimulus funds. Our goal is to get these funds out to our schools as soon as possible to protect jobs and help improve student achievement.”

“California schools will be able use these funds with significant flexibility to help improve student performance, protect jobs and programs,” said Secretary of Education Glen Thomas. “I applaud the quick action of Governor Schwarzenegger and his Recovery Task Force to get these dollars flowing quickly and efficiently to our schools and universities at this critical time.”

With his Recovery Task Force, Governor Schwarzenegger last week signed the application for the funding, opening the door for approximately $4.9 billion to flow into California and quickly to schools where it will preserve education programs and protect jobs, as well as an additional $1.1 billion to protect other state programs. Now, less than two weeks after the federal government made the funding guidelines available, school districts can tap into the first installment of that funding: $3.1 billion, of which approximately $2.6 billion is estimated to go toward K-12 schools and $537 million toward the California State University and University of California systems.

Source: California Governor