U.S. Dept. of Education Approves $1.4 Billion in Recovery Funding for Illinois

From the Recovery Illinois Office of Governor Pat Quinn

CHICAGO – April 20, 2009. Governor Pat Quinn announced today that Illinois’ application for the first $1.4 billion in State Fiscal Stabilization Funding (SFSF) under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 has been approved by the U.S. Department of Education. Some of those dollars will begin flowing to schools within days.

“With help from the General Assembly, the State of Illinois is acting quickly to take advantage of every federal Recovery dollar available to us,” said Governor Quinn. “In addition, my proposed 2010 budget uses additional Recovery dollars to increase funding for education, and to continue work on education reforms that will ensure greater accountability to our students.”

Earlier this month, the General Assembly acted quickly to pass House Bill 210, sponsored by House Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Chicago) and Senator Donne Trotter (D-Chicago), which gave the state the ability to access and start spending federal Recovery dollars.

Illinois is expected to receive over $2 billion in State Fiscal Stabilization Funding over the next two years. Today the U.S. Department of Education approved the first $1.4 billion of those dollars. Illinois plans to use over $1 billion of that in Fiscal Year 2009 to pay general education expenses and avoid state funding cuts for schools. In Fiscal Year 2010, Illinois will use the remaining $400 million plus an expected $700 million.

SFSF dollars will be used to ensure Illinois does not need to cut education in the current economic climate. In addition, the Governor’s Fiscal Year 2010 budget uses SFSF funding to increase the state’s investment in preschool through high school education by $174 million and higher education by $40 million.

In addition to SFSF, Illinois schools will receive $1 billion in additional Recovery funding for programs. The distribution of these funds is based on existing federal education formulas for programs that serve low income and special education students.

In order to access the SFSF, Governor Quinn is moving Illinois towards education reform in several areas, including: progressing toward rigorous standards and high-quality tests, establishing a data system that will track student progress from preschool through college and careers, increasing teacher effectiveness and focusing more intense support for failing schools.