September 15, 2010
Federal Education Jobs Fund Program - Virginia Application Approved
Information from State Superintendent Patricia I. Wright
As indicated in the U.S. Department of Education (USED) press release below, this is to alert you that Virginia’s federal Education Jobs Fund application has been approved by USED and Virginia is now eligible to receive these funds. At this point, we await receipt of the actual state grant award document from USED and for the grant funds to be loaded into the USED draw down system. This is expected to take several business days, at which time the division funding allocations previously communicated to you in Supts. Memo 220-10 will be loaded into the OMEGA system and the funds available for divisions to begin requesting reimbursement for qualifying expenses. Another communication will be sent to divisions when the funds are loaded to OMEGA and available for reimbursement.
Eight States to Receive Funds to Support Education Funds
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today announced that eight states will receive millions of dollars to support education jobs.
"There is a huge sense of urgency to get these funds out the door," said Duncan. "These education dollars will help these states keep thousands of teachers in the classroom working with our students this school year."
The $10 billion education fund will support education jobs in the 2010-11 school year and be distributed to states by a formula based on population figures. States can distribute their funding to school districts based on their own primary funding formula or districts' relative share of federal Title I funds.
Over the last two years, the Department has been able to support 300,000 education jobs through stimulus funding provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. At this time, seven states have drawn down 100 percent of previously allocated jobs funding, while 18 states total have drawn down 80 percent or more. A July report from the independent Center on Education Policy found that 75 percent of school districts that received stimulus funds expect to cut teaching positions in the upcoming school year.