Rochester, NY – Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (NY-28) today announced that the state of New York will receive $607.6 million to save education jobs.  The funds, which will be used to protect teachers and other school-related jobs from statewide budget cutbacks, were approved by Congress during a special session earlier this month.

H.R. 1586, the Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act, passed the House with Slaughter’s strong support on August 8, 2010, and was subsequently signed into law by President Obama.

“These funds arrive right on time for the tens of thousands of children from Western New York getting ready to back to school in the coming days and weeks,” said Slaughter.  “Getting this bill passed cleared the way for these funds to go out to communities that need the help. According to some estimates, we saved the jobs of 460 teachers in my district alone.”

The $10 billion education fund authorized by H.R. 1586 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.

“There is a huge sense of urgency to get these funds out the door.  I commend New York for being one of the first states to submit their application and thank our team at the Department for making funds available within a matter of days,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. “These education dollars will help New York keep thousands of teachers in the classroom working with our students this school year.”

What else is in the Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act for Western New York?

•    It Keeps Jobs In America While Reducing the Deficit

The bill is completely paid for. According to non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, the bill reduces the deficit by $1.4 billion over 10 years. The Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act includes costs of $26.1 billion and offsets of $27.5 billion – including $17.7 billion in spending cuts and $9.8 billion by closing tax loopholes that encourage corporations to ship American jobs overseas.

•    It Keeps Teachers in the Classroom

Weeks before Western New York students go back to school, the Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act saves 161,000 teachers from tragically timed layoffs. In New York, 8,200 K-12 teachers are spared, 460 of whom work in the 28th Congressional District according to the National Education Association.

•    It Will Save New York Billions in Medicaid Funding

According to the Center of Budget and Policy Priorities, New York will save $2.228 billion with the six month extension of the FMAP provisions.

•    And It’s Necessary for New York

On February 22, 42 Governors, including Governor David Paterson, wrote to Congressional leaders asking for an extension of critical Medicaid funds. In June, Slaughter joined many of her New York colleagues in a meeting with Governor Paterson who asked his delegation for help. And on August 9, Slaughter received a letter from the Governor who again lobbied Congress for this vital funding saying:

“The federal assistance under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) has been critical to New York’s ability to weather the steep declines in revenue and sharp increases in the demand for services caused by the recession. Under ARRA, New York received a temporary FMAP boost that yielded more than $11 billion in additional funding that was used to mitigate the deep cuts to essential services that would otherwise have been necessary…This federal funding will help to mitigate the effects of these cuts in health and human services and to support our teachers… and I thank you for taking the time to come back from your districts to take this important vote to help our fellow New Yorkers and to protect an emerging economic recovery in New York State and nationwide.”