Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson today announced that the U.S. Department of Education has released more than $158 million in emergency education funds for school districts in the 30th Congressional District of Texas.  The Cedar Hill, Dallas, DeSoto, Duncanville, Ferris, Irving, Lancaster and Mesquite Independent School Districts will receive a total of $96,188,334 in Title I funds and $62,069,000 in IDEA funds.  Please see below for school district-specific numbers.

“Many school districts are in desperate need of funding, particularly now, when states and cities are cutting their budgets,” Congresswoman Johnson said.  “These funds are targeted to students at the highest risk of falling through the cracks, and I am pleased that school districts throughout the Metroplex and throughout the country are receiving this important funding.”

Nationwide, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provides $13 billion in Title I funds and $13.5 billion in IDEA funds.  Title I finances academic support for low-achieving children, particularly those in high-poverty schools, and IDEA provides support for students with disabilities.  This is the first of two installments of direct funding for Title I and IDEA programs that school districts will receive under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which Congress passed and President Obama signed on February 17.  The second round of funds will be released in the fall.

In addition to the Title I and IDEA investments, the economic recovery plan also created a state stabilization fund to help stabilize state and local budgets and restore harmful cuts to education.  Along with announcing the release of funding for local districts, the Obama administration also issued guidelines today to clarify how these funds must be used, to help clear up recent confusion over whether the state can decide how local districts and colleges use those funds.  States can also now apply for this funding.

The guidelines confirm that while states allocate the funds, it should be up to local school districts and colleges and universities to decide how to use this emergency aid, not up to states. The guidelines also reaffirmed that state stabilization funds should be used for three purposes: to backfill harmful cuts to K-12 and higher education, to prevent teacher layoffs and to modernize school facilities.

Complete funding information for school districts in District 30 follows: 

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U.S. Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson is the highest-ranking Texan on the House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure and a senior member of the Science Committee. She represents the 30th Congressional District of Texas, which, includes Downtown Dallas, Fair Park, Oak Lawn, Old East Dallas, Pleasant Grove, & South Oak Cliff; all of Balch Springs, DeSoto, Hutchins, Lancaster & Wilmer and parts of Cedar Hill, Duncanville, Ferris, Glenn Heights and Ovilla