Today, Congressman Kurt Schrader voted to pass HR 1586, the Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act. HR 1586 will provide Oregon with more than $117 million in funding for education jobs and an estimated $150 million in Medicaid funding. The legislation passed the House 247-161.

“This funding provided in this bill is critical,” said Schrader. “Education plays a vital role in any economic recovery. The stimulus package provided a unique opportunity to improve our public education system by providing schools with the resources to retain jobs and hire quality educators. We need to position our youth and our displaced workers for the new post recovery economy.”

At a time when state budgets are tight, it is important to make sure the quality of our children’s education is sustained. This is contingent upon investments that prevent their school days from being cut and that help to reduce their classroom size. A consistent investment in our education workforce is critical to the success of our public school system. These investments will also ensure that we are preparing our children so that they can compete for the jobs of the future.

HR 1586, the Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act allocates more than $26 billion in state aid and will save an estimated 150,000 teaching jobs nationwide. Of the $26 billion, $10 billion is to aid states in preventing layoffs and $16.1 billion is to assist states with Medicaid funding. In Oregon, more than 1,600 jobs will be funded allowing Oregon schools to retain teachers at a time when students need it most.