Washington, D.C.--Congressman Eliot Engel announced $19,833,346 in emergency education funding has been awarded for schools in Westchester County. This funding will be used to help save education-related jobs, and maintain programs for low-income students and students with disabilities. Specifically, the schools will receive $8,113,346 in Title I funds and $11,720,000 in IDEA funds (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), with half the money to be distributed immediately and the rest in September.

Nationwide, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provides $13 billion in Title I funds, which helps low-income students, and $13.5 billion in IDEA funds, which helps students with disabilities. This is the first of two installments of direct funding for Title I and IDEA programs for school districts under President Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Rep. Engel said, “Money for education is the best investment a country can make. I say this as a former teacher and as a legislator. This is an investment that will reward those students and our country for years to come.”

The money is allocated as follows:
School Title 1 IDEA Total
Yonkers $6,621,586 $8,091,000 $14,712,586
Mount Vernon $1,491,760 $2,892,000 $4,383,760
Dobbs Ferry $400,000 $400,000
Hastings-on-Hudson $337,000 $337,000

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 Title 1 and IDEA funding for local districts, the Obama administration also issued guidelines to clarify how these stabilization 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 stabilization 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 left 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 stave off teacher layoffs, and to modernize school facilities – which could create new jobs.

IDEA is the major federal program that provides funding for special education and related services to students with disabilities. The Title I program provides funds to low-income school districts that are in even greater need during the economic downturn. The funds appropriated through the Recovery Plan are distributed through the previously defined IDEA and Title I formulas.

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