White House: Stimulus Saved Or Created 250,000 Education Jobs
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- States have used economic-stimulus dollars to fill in
shortfalls in their education budgets and create or save 250,000 education jobs,
the White House said Monday.
The White House and the Education Department released a new report on the
impact of the approximately $100 billion in stimulus funds devoted to education,
previewing part of the first quarterly public accounting of all Recovery Act
spending, which will be released Oct. 30.
"Early feedback from states also tells us that many districts are using
stimulus dollars in ways that will move us beyond the status quo," Secretary of
Education Arne Duncan said in a statement. "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 new report follows other White House projections that suggest the stimulus
is helping create jobs. Last week, the administration said about 30,000 jobs
have been directly created or saved by contractors who received stimulus cash.
The White House's Council of Economic Advisers says around 1 million jobs have
been saved or created by the end of August thanks to the stimulus.
The administration's figures, however, have been criticized by Republican
lawmakers, who say that with unemployment at a 26-year high of 9.8%, the
stimulus package isn't working.
-By Henry J. Pulizzi, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9256; henry.pulizzi@
dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
10-19-091055ET
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