The funding will go poof in September 2024.
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K–12 school districts in the US haven’t spent 93% of the $122 billion in Covid relief they were awarded last year, the WSJ reports. And the country’s second-largest district, in LA, hasn’t spent a single dime of its $2.57 billion booster.
They better get going. The funds—the most the federal government has ever disbursed to schools—will go poof if they aren’t allocated by September 2024. So what’s the hang-up? It’s a little more nuanced than “the dog ate my stimmy check”:
- Hiring full-time staff with the money isn’t really an option, since it has to be spent in a limited time frame. When it dries up, so will any new workers’ salaries.
- Hiring’s tough all-around because of workforce shortages—but it’s particularly bad in schools.
- Supply chain issues mean infrastructure projects, such as installing ventilation systems, are slow-going.
- LA in particular is still racing to spend several hundred mil left over from previous stimulus packages.
Looking ahead…32 organizations emailed the professor—err, sent a letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona—for a two-year extension for districts to spend the funds. Federal officials are accepting requests from districts directly, too.—JW
