Wash. gets $672M in education stimulus

The state is receiving $672 million in federal stimulus money that state officials say will help offset budget cuts in the K-12 education system.

Gov. Chris Gregoire announced Wednesday that the money was now available, and that the state would be able to apply for an additional $331 million in the fall.

Gregoire says the money will help reduce class sizes in grades K-4 and provide additional training for educators, among other things.

Higher education will also receive some of the stimulus money.

This year, to deal with a $9 billion deficit through 2011, lawmakers made cuts to education, including suspending more than half of the money under a voter-approved initiative to ensure smaller class sizes, and totally suspending another initiative for teacher cost-of-living raises.

Also Wednesday, the state received more than $68 million in stimulus money for water quality protection projects for wastewater treatment, non-point source pollution control and watershed and estuary management.