Carson: Indianapolis Public Schools to Receive $48 Million in Recovery Act Funds
April 1, 2009
April 1, 2009
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congressman André Carson today announced that approximately $48 million in education funding will be headed to Indianapolis Public Schools to help save the jobs of teachers, maintain programs for low-income students and students with disabilities, and improve educational opportunities in challenged neighborhoods.
IPS will have an estimated $16.3 million in Title I funds and $7.7 million in IDEA funds distributed to its coffers in the coming days as part of the first installment of education-related funding from the Recovery Act. The second half of the $48 million will be released in the fall.
"We cannot let our kids' education suffer because of budget cuts and teacher layoffs stemming from this ongoing recession," said Congressman Carson. "This infusion of Recovery Act funding will help save the jobs of teachers – keeping class sizes down – and ensure our most vulnerable students continue to have their educational needs met."
Nationwide, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provides $13 billion in Title I funds to support programs for low-income students, and $13.5 billion in IDEA funds to pay for programs serving students with disabilities.
In addition to the Title I and IDEA investments, the economic recovery plan also created a state stabilization fund to help bolster state and local budgets to avoid and/or restore harmful cuts to education. Along with announcing the release of funding for local districts, the Obama administration also issued guidelines today to clarify how these funds must be used to help clear up recent confusion over whether the state can decide how local districts and colleges use those funds. States can also now apply for this funding.
The guidelines confirm that while states allocate the funds, it should be up to local school districts and colleges and universities to decide how to use this emergency aid. The guidelines also reaffirmed that state stabilization funds should be used for three purposes: to backfill harmful cuts to K-12 and higher education, to stave off teacher layoffs, and to modernize school facilities – which could create new jobs.
IDEA is the major federal program that provides funding for special education and related services to students with disabilities. The Title I program provides funds to low-income school districts that are in even greater need during this economic downturn. The funds appropriated through the Recovery Plan are distributed through the previously defined IDEA and Title I formulas.
For more information on the education spending in the recovery package, click here.
To view the guidance issued by the Department of Education, click here.
###