The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the federal government’s $787 billion economic-stimulus package, provided more than $100 billion in funding for education programs. In addition to preventing the loss of education jobs because of budget cuts, the ARRA legislation, signed into law in February 2009, also aimed to promote innovative education policies. In August 2010, the Education Jobs Fund sent an additional $10 billion in federal aid to states to help avert teacher layoffs.
The largest share of the education funding in the ARRA was directed to K-12 programs through the U.S. Department of Education. The department received slightly more than $79 billion that could be used for that purpose. More than half of that money was allocated to the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund to help states restore funding for education programs cut from their budgets as a result of the economic downturn. Most of the money in that Stabilization Fund was distributed to states based on population; $5 billion in discretionary incentive and innovation grants was awarded through competitive processes.
Download a detailed chart that breaks down stimulus funding (PDF):
