22
Mar
2010
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) today announced the recipients of this year's 'Harkin School Grants'. The Iowa Department of Education has selected 58 schools to receive $5,361,576 in federal funds to modernize and improve their facilities. Specifically, 47 Iowa schools of all sizes will receive $1,876,551 to improve and upgrade fire safety and 11 schools will receive $3,485,025 for projects such as replacing old buildings, updating facilities and improving energy efficiency.
"If we expect our children to learn and be competitive in the global economy, we must provide them with safe and modern schools in which to thrive. This funding will allow for upgrades to improve the safety and quality of school infrastructure and help improve the quality of the learning done inside," said Harkin. "I congratulate all of these schools on being chosen by the Iowa Department of Education for this year's grants."
This federal funding comes from pilot programs Harkin created in 1998 in his role as Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee that funds education initiatives. Since then, these grants have provided $134 million in federal dollars to the Iowa Department of Education to make competitive grants for school repair and construction. Because most of the funding required a local match, over $600 million has been leveraged for construction and repairs in over 300 Iowa school districts. For the first time in the history of the program, the competition gave preference to school districts that plan energy efficient projects.
"This program has shown to have very positive results in Iowa. It is my hope that this method of using a small infusion of federal dollars to leverage construction and repair funding becomes a national model to provide all children with safe, energy efficient school facilities that are conducive to world-class learning," said Harkin.
A full list of grantees can be found here.
"If we expect our children to learn and be competitive in the global economy, we must provide them with safe and modern schools in which to thrive. This funding will allow for upgrades to improve the safety and quality of school infrastructure and help improve the quality of the learning done inside," said Harkin. "I congratulate all of these schools on being chosen by the Iowa Department of Education for this year's grants."
This federal funding comes from pilot programs Harkin created in 1998 in his role as Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee that funds education initiatives. Since then, these grants have provided $134 million in federal dollars to the Iowa Department of Education to make competitive grants for school repair and construction. Because most of the funding required a local match, over $600 million has been leveraged for construction and repairs in over 300 Iowa school districts. For the first time in the history of the program, the competition gave preference to school districts that plan energy efficient projects.
"This program has shown to have very positive results in Iowa. It is my hope that this method of using a small infusion of federal dollars to leverage construction and repair funding becomes a national model to provide all children with safe, energy efficient school facilities that are conducive to world-class learning," said Harkin.
A full list of grantees can be found here.
