Giving Compass' Take:
- Kara Arundel reports on the U.S. Department of Education granting all COVID-19 relief spending deadline extension requests.
- How can states and districts allocate their remaining COVID-19 relief funds for maximum impact in the 14 months they have left to spend them?
- Learn more about key issues in education and how you can help.
- Search our Guide to Good for nonprofits focused on education in your area.
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No requests from states to extend spending deadlines for COVID-19 federal emergency funds for K-12 schools have been denied so far, according to the U.S. Department of Education, which has been reviewing the requests. About half the states requested COVID-19 relief spending deadline extensions from one or more of the federal COVID emergency allocations offered for K-12.
The spending extensions approved up until this point represent just a fraction — $1.7 billion — of the nearly $200 billion provided from Congress to states and local school districts to help with pandemic recovery efforts.
The Education Department has begun to approve Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief spending extension requests for American Rescue Plan Act funds — the last and largest federal COVID-related appropriation. So far, Delaware and Puerto Rico have received ESSER-ARP spending extensions.
States and districts with spending extensions have an extra 14 months beyond the spending deadline to liquidate their allocations.
Spending extension requests were submitted for every allocation under the Education Stabilization Fund available for K-12. Those allocations include ESSER, Governor’s Emergency Education Relief and Emergency Assistance to Non-Public Schools.
The Education Stabilization Fund was established by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, at the onset of the pandemic in March 2020. Subsequent allocations to the fund were delivered through the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, or CRRSA Act, and the ARP Act.
Collectively, the nearly $200 billion in flexible federal funding supported many pandemic recovery activities in education. With the earlier funds, schools targeted efforts to safely resume in-person learning after pandemic-related building closures and to plan for school infrastructure upgrades. With later appropriations, schools focused on tutoring, engagement and summer programs for academic recovery.
School administration organizations had asked the Education Department for a process to request spending extensions, saying that supply chain struggles and labor shortages disrupted districts’ plans to spend the money.
Read the full article about COVID-19 relief spending deadlines by Kara Arundel at K-12 Dive.