Schools Have Spent Only 7% of Covid-19 Funds

With the worst of the pandemic over, schools across the country have only spent 7 percent, or about $8.5 billion, of the $122 billion awarded by Congress in the American Rescue Plan Act, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The money was intended to help schools address learning loss, mental health problems, and other pandemic-related issues in K-12 schools. Now, schools are scrambling to spend money, because it must be returned if it’s unspent by September 2024. Schools are using these funds to upgrade facilities, update their technology, hire more teachers and counselors, and expand after-school programs.

The Los Angeles Unified School District, the second largest school district in the nation, has yet to spend any of its $2.6 billion in funding. In fact, it’s still trying to find ways to spend hundreds of millions remaining from earlier Covid-19 relief funds.

Educational organizations are trying to lobby Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona for an extension of the deadline to use the other $113.5 billion worth of funds. Federal officials have said districts can apply for extensions on construction-related projects.

Sen. John Thune, the second highest ranking Republican in the Senate, warned in February 2021 that experts predicted 95 percent of the money given to schools wouldn’t be spent until after 2021, a prediction that turned out to be almost exact.

The use-it-or-lose-it spending spree that will come will lead to enormous amounts of waste of taxpayers money just so the money doesn’t have to be returned to the federal government.

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