Giving Compass' Take:

• At Education Dive, Linda Jacobson summarizes recent, state-wide emergency education relief funds and the debate over how and where they should be spent.

• Why is it important to ensure these relief funds help those who've been hurt by a cyclical lack of funding in the past? Which communities stand the most to lose and gain from this? How can you push for adequate funding for marginalized groups?

• Learn about how four states used their emergency education relief funds earlier this year.

It was close, but all 50 states and the District of Columbia have applied and been approved for the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund — a relatively small block grant within the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, but one state leaders have wide discretion in how to spend.

The awards — which range from more than $355 million for California to about $4.4 million for Vermont — are unusual in that governors can use the money for “needs related to COVID-19” at either the K-12 or higher education levels.

The Century Foundation is among the organizations wanting to better understand how the funds will be used.

“We're eager to learn more about how states plan to use these funds to support vulnerable students in the midst of the pandemic,” said Jen Mishory, a senior fellow at the progressive foundation. “Transparency is a critical step to ensuring students are being well served.”

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is pressing for school districts to share federal relief funds with independent and faith-based schools, and some school choice advocates say the GEER funds should be directed toward education savings accounts that allow parents to use public funding for private school expenses.

But some in the faith-based community argue GEER and other federal relief funds for education should stay in the public sector.

“Religious schools are not a replacement for public schools. Unlike public schools, they provide religious education and spiritual formation for the continuation of a religious community,” wrote Jennifer Hawks, associate general counsel for the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty in Washington. “This approach to education is inherently different from public education and should not be funded, nor directed, by the government.”

Read the full article about emergency education relief funds by Linda Jacobson at Education Dive.