Educational Impact of the American Recovery and REinvestment Act

摘要

Providing a high-quality education for all children is critical to America's economic future. Our nation's economic competitiveness depends on providing every child with an education that will enable them to succeed in a global economy that is predicated on knowledge and innovation. In recognition of this fact, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) provided approximately $100 billion to deliver emergency education funding to states and drive key school reforms. While a share of the ARRA funds has yet to be allocated to the states, preliminary data submitted by the states to the U.S. Department of Education suggests that ARRA funds are accomplishing both of these essential objectives. Immediately after President Obama signed ARRA into law on February 17th, 2009, the Department acted swiftly to move the first phase of these funds to states in response to drastic budget shortfalls. Over $67 billion in formula grants have been obligated as of September 30th, 2009. As part of the unprecedented transparency requirements of ARRA, the first quarterly public accounting of all expenditures to date will be posted by the Recovery, Accountability, and Transparency Board on October 30th, 2009. Initial reporting from states find that the October 30 release will show at least 250,000 education jobs created or saved across the nation that are supporting our students and fueling our economy.