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WASHINGTON – The Obama Administration today announced that preliminary indications are that state governments will credit the Recovery Act with creating and saving at least 250,000 education jobs across the country when reports filed on Recovery Act education spending to-date are posted online later this month.
"This is one more indication of how the Recovery Act is helping soften the blow of tough times, by keeping educators on the job and teachers in the classroom," said Vice President Joe Biden.
A report released today by the Domestic Policy Council, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Education, finds that preliminary data shows that Recovery Act funding has enabled states to restore nearly all of their projected education budget shortfalls for FY09 and FY10. Filling these budget gaps has allowed the Recovery Act to avert layoffs of educators in school districts and universities across the nation, saving and creating at least a quarter of a million education jobs, while helping school districts make progress on reforms that will improve teaching and learning in America’s classrooms. To view the report, click HERE.
"Initial reporting from states shows that education stimulus dollars have created or saved over 250,000 education jobs across the nation and have been invested in the kinds of reforms that will help today's students compete in a global economy," said Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. "Early feedback from states also tells us that many districts are using stimulus dollars in ways that will move us beyond the status quo. There is a lot more work to be done but we applaud those districts that have successfully used stimulus funding to stave off catastrophic layoffs and invest in critical reforms."
The education jobs were reported as part of a historic effort the Administration has undertaken to provide the American people with more information about the Recovery Act at work than with any previous government program. In addition to the extensive data already available on every area of spending on Recovery.gov, recipients of the roughly one-third of the Recovery Act made up of projects and activities are required submit quarterly reports with more specific information about their spending and the related direct job impact to be publicly posted on the site.
The final individual reports will be published on Recovery.gov on October 30th after the current review period is completed; however, preliminary data from the states on education spending shows at least 250,000 education positions directly credited to the Recovery Act. This comes on top of last week’s data on Recovery contracts. On October 15th, preliminary data tied to federal contracts – less than 10 percent of total filings – was posted on Recovery.gov and showed 30,000 Recovery Act-funded direct jobs from that area of spending.
The law requires this more detailed reporting on $276 billion of the $787 billion Recovery Act – of which approximately $150 billion was already being put to work through September 30th and subject to reporting this quarter. Recipients are only asked to report the direct job impact and are instructed not to estimate indirect or induced job data.
For estimates of the total jobs impact of the Recovery Act, including the impact of the tax cuts, aid to individuals directly hurt by the recession, and much of the state fiscal relief, experts rely on macroeconomic modeling. Using these models, the Council of Economic Advisers and private forecasters estimated that the Recovery Act had helped to create or retain about 1 million jobs as of the end of August. Independent economists have also credited the Recovery Act with contributing between 2 and 3 percentage points to real GDP growth in the second half of this year.
President Obama signed the Recovery Act into law on February 17, 2009, as the country faced the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression. The Act was designed to create jobs and spur economic growth through a combination of tax relief for individuals and businesses, aid to hard-hit families and state and local governments, and funding for science, technology and infrastructure projects across the country.
