Chairman Miller Announces California is First to Receive State Stabilization Funds to Save Jobs
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, today announced that California will be the first state in the country to receive state fiscal stabilization funds provided under President Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The relief, which will help stave off teacher layoffs and other cuts to education, comes as tens of thousands of teachers in California are at risk of losing their jobs. “This is a huge boost for education in California. For teachers, students, schools and colleges across our state, today’s news means that help is on the way,” said Miller, a key champion of the funding in Congress. “Given the urgency of our state’s budgetary crisis, with the jobs of tens of thousands of teachers at stake, I am very pleased that Governor Schwarzenegger has pledged to release these funds immediately to prevent teacher layoffs, to backfill cuts to education, and to modernize schools and colleges. Along with other education funds already released under President Obama’s plan, this emergency relief will go a long way toward helping our education system and our economy rebuild.”
The U.S. Department of Education will release $3.99 billion in funds for FY 2009 this weekend – the first of two rounds of stabilization funds that states can receive under the recovery plan. Of that, $2.6 billion will be allocated for K-12 education, and $537 million for higher education. While the state receives and allocates the funds to school districts, it is up to districts to decide how to spend the funds based on their local needs: to prevent teacher layoffs, to restore state budget cuts to education, and to repair, modernize and green public schools and colleges.
The state will be eligible to apply for another $2 billion this fall.
Last month, at the request of Miller and other Democratic lawmakers from California, Governor Schwarzenegger agreed to release the state stabilization funds it receives under President Obama’s economic recovery plan to local school districts as quickly as possible. He also agreed with the lawmakers that it should be up to local school districts, not the state, to decide how to use these funds based on their local education needs, in accordance with guidelines released by the Education Department.
To view the governor’s response to lawmakers, click here. Rep. Miller, the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, released the letter today after receiving it late last week.
To view the lawmakers’ original letter, click here.
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