Dept. of Ed to Accelerate $11.37 Billion in Stimulus Funds

August 5, 2009

Washington, DC — U.S. Secretary of Education ArneDuncan today announced that the Department will accelerate stimulusspending by making $11.37 billion in Title I, IDEA, and VocationalRehabilitation (VR) funding, as part of the American Recovery andReinvestment Act (ARRA), available to states one month early to helpsave jobs and drive reform.

"The President and I directed the Cabinet to find ways to pick upthe pace of Recovery Act implementation, and I applaud this criticalstep forward by the Department of Education," said Vice PresidentBiden. "With over 30,000 Recovery Act pr ojects already approvednationwide and billions in relief flowing to hard-hit families andbusinesses, we’ve made a lot of progress in a short time—but wecontinue to focus every day on finding ways to ramp up our efforts toput Americans back to work and rebuild our economy."

"After accelerating the release of $2.7 billion in GovernmentServices funds earlier this month, we are now announcing another $11.37billion in Title I, IDEA and VR funds that will be released early tohelp states and districts expedite stimulus spending," said SecretaryDuncan.

On April 1, 2009 the Department awarded 50 percent of each state’sTitle I ARRA funds, 50 percent of each state’s IDEA ARRA funds, and 50percent of each state’s VR ARRA funds. The remaining 50 percent, or$11.37 billion, was to be made available on September 30. Today’sannouncement will move up that timeline and ensure that these funds aremade available to all states on or around September 1.

The early release of these funds comes on the heels of Department’spublication earlier last week of the proposed requirements forapproximately $12.6 billion in Phase 2 State Fiscal Stabilization Fundsand $4 billion in Race to the Top competitive grants. In addition, theDepartment earlier last week also invited applications for $250 millionin statewide longitudinal data systems competitive grants and released$650 million in Educational Technology funds.

"At the Department, we are doing everything possible to preventspending decisions from being made in silos and we encourage states anddistricts to do the same," said Secretary Duncan.

The $5 billion in Title I funding being made available early will goto local educational agencies (LEAs) for schools that have highconcentrations of students from families that live in poverty in orderto help improve teaching and learning fo r students most at risk offailing to meet state academic achievement standards. These fundscreate an unprecedented opportunity for educators to implementinnovative strategies in Title I schools that improve education forat-risk students and close the achievement gaps while also stimulatingthe economy.

The $6.1 billion in IDEA funding being made available early willprovide an unprecedented opportunity for states, LEAs and earlyintervention service providers to implement innovative strategies toimprove outcomes for infants, toddlers, children and youths withdisabilities, while stimulating the economy. The $270 million in VRfunding being made available early will provide state VR agencies anopportunity to further improve employment outcomes for individuals withdisabilities, especially those with the most significant disabilities.