With Billions in Federal Pandemic Relief, Why Are Schools Still Closed?

New aid from Congress should fund education savings accounts for vulnerable and low-income children.

Photo by Santi Vedrí on Unsplash

Summary

The United States is facing the biggest emergency in the history of American education. Millions of children have not been in a classroom since spring. As many as 3 million have had limited or no instruction while schools have been providing remote learning. Researchers warn that prolonged school closures are causing significant learning losses and increasing the academic achievement gap, which will have lifelong consequences for a generation of American children.

In March, Congress authorized more than $16 billion in emergency aid for K-12 education through the CARES Act. Congress may soon consider new federal emergency aid for K-12 education. Before the election, House Democrats proposed $175 billion and Senate Republicans offered more than $100 billion. President-elect Joe Biden announced support for new funding, including an immediate boost of $30 billion for “safe supplies” and $4 billion for technology.

When Congress authorizes new emergency funding for K-12 education, dollars should be provided directly to at-risk children affected by prolonged school closures. For example, $175 billion in new funding, as proposed by House Democrats, could be provided directly to the parents of the nation’s 25 million most at-risk children, consistent with current federal education policy. Approximately $7,000 per-child recovery accounts could be used to pay for tutoring, education technology to support remote learning during the pandemic, and summer school. These funds could also be used to pay for tuition during the second semester of the school year.

During the current emergency, there is no justifiable reason to provide new federal funding to K-12 public school districts unless states and school districts demonstrate a clear need for why new funds are needed to reopen schools or support remote learning while schools are closed. States have not yet spent the majority of emergency aid provided by Congress through the CARES Act in the spring.

The Department of Education recently reported that states had spent only 12 percent of the $13.3 billion the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund as of September 30th. Governors had spent just $535 million of the $3 billion provided to Governors Emergency Education Relief Funds, and 34 governors “had yet to spend more than one percent of their allocated funding.” It is possible that states and governors have obligated, but not yet spent, CARES Act funding. But the Department of Education’s current reporting raises questions about whether new resources are needed.

With billions in federal K-12 funding for public school systems still unspent, the more urgent priority for Congress should be to support the short- and long-term education recovery of at-risk children, consistent with federal education policy. Funding assistance should be provided directly to children based on the highest need, including students from low-income households, children with special needs, English learners, foster children, migrants, and the homeless, and the time that they have been out of school.

Funding provided to at-risk children could be provided in academic recovery accounts or education spending accounts, as several states are currently using GEER funding. The parents or guardians of at-risk students could use emergency federal education aid for education services and technology to support outside of school learning, tutoring to address learning loss, school tuition for the remainder of the 2020–21 school year, or summer school.

Since some states and school districts have prioritized reopening schools, Congress should distribute aid in a manner that provides funding based on the length of time that schools have been closed to in-person learning. The formula should provide aid directly to school districts that have reopened, while also distributing resources directly to students who have been affected by prolonged school closures to recover from pandemic-related learning losses.

The current K-12 education emergency

As the end of 2020 approaches, millions of American children remain out of school and have not been in a classroom since March. According to one estimate, 3 million at-risk kids have had essentially no education since the spring. Disadvantaged children will likely have lost a year’s worth of learning if schools remain closed through December.

Prolonged school closures and learning losses are expected to have a staggering long-term personal and collective cost and undermine equal opportunity. Since learning losses are expected to be larger for disadvantaged children, a generation of children now have reduced academic achievement and attainment prospects that could affect the course of their lives. An OECD analysis found that school closures may result in a 1.5 percent annual reduction in GDP growth for the rest of the century, which would cost the United States an estimated $14 trillion.

At the same time, state and local governments face large revenue shortfalls due to the COVID-19 economic downturn. The American Enterprise Institute recently projected a $240 billion shortfall for state and local governments in FY2021. The Brookings Institution estimated $167 billion. Reduced tax revenue will place greater pressure on state and local government services, including K-12 education.

States have only spent a fraction of CARES Act funding for K-12 education

But do states currently need new funding for K-12 education and public school systems during the 2020–21 school year? Congress provided more than $16 billion in federal K-12 education funding aid to states through the CARES Act. According to GAO, only $907 million of those funds had been spent before August.

The Department of Education recently reported that states had spent only 12 percent of the $13.3 billion the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund as of September 30th. Governors had spent just $535 million of the $3 billion provided to Governors Emergency Education Relief Funds, and 34 governors “had yet to spend more than one percent of their allocated funding.” The Department of Education’s online portal for tracking CARES Act spending allows users to track how much funding was awarded to each state and review how or whether states are spending money.

While it is possible that states have obligated but not yet spent some of the available funds, the current reporting suggests that significant resoures remain unused. Congress has a responsibility to conduct oversight to understand why states have not used previously awarded funding to support reopening schools or supporting remote learning or tutoring for students who are struggling to learn while schools are closed to in-person instruction.

Recent Congressional K-12 relief proposals

Despite the lack of information about why existing federal aid has not yet been spent, Congress is already considering new emergency aid packages for K-12 education.

Before the election, House Democrats backed a measure to provide $208 billion to the Department of Education to support a state fiscal stabilization fund for K-12 and higher education. The spending package would include $175 billion for K-12 education, which would be distributed to states based on student populations and awarded to local educational agencies based on Title I student counts to assist disadvantaged children. School districts would have broad discretion to spend funding on any allowed use under current federal law. The House bill’s funding formulas did not account for whether or not public schools were open for in-person learning.

Senate Republicans proposed more than $100 billion in aid for education. First, the legislation would have authorized $105 billion for an education stabilization fund with funds distributed to governors and to states and local education agencies for allowed uses under federal law. The latter funding would have prioritized funding for schools and school districts that reopened (with one-third provided before schools reopen and two-thirds provided after the governor approves local education agencies’ reopening plans). Second, the Republican measure would have funded ‘emergency education freedom grants,’ authorized tax credits for contributions to scholarship granting organizations, and expanded the allowable uses of 529 savings accounts to include outside of school expenses.

On December 1st, a bipartisan coalition of Senators released a proposal for a new pandemic spending package, including $82 billion for education with no details about how the funds would be distributed.

Congress should provide funding directly to at-risk children affected by school closures

Based on these recent proposals, Congress will likely authorize as much as $175 billion or more for emergency education aid. Since many states and governors have not yet spent currently available CARES Act funding that was authorized in the spring, Congress should focus any new emergency education assistance to address the immediate emergency of millions of at-risk children falling further behind due to prolonged school closures and related learning losses.

Congress should structure the delivery of new emergency education aid in the following manner:

1. Provide direct funding assistance in the form of academic recovery accounts to at-risk children who have experienced prolonged school closures. Specifically, funding should be provided to children from low-income households, children with disabilities, English learners, children in foster care, and those experiencing homelessness to support short- and long-term remediation. The allowed uses of academic recovery accounts would include tutoring, school and summer school tuition, and other outside of school learning needs. Funds should be allocated through a formula that reflects the amount of time that an eligible child has not had the opportunity for in-person learning based on school closures. Congress should give the parents or guardians of these children several years to use funding in the accounts to support the child’s long-term educational recovery needs.
2. Provide funding assistance to state and local school districts using a funding formula that accounts for the length of time that schools have been closed, adjusting for the funds provided directly to the accounts of at-risk children. Districts that have been closed to in-person learning will have spent fewer resources than those that have reopened. Moreover, learning losses will be larger for students who have been out of school for longer periods, which is why more aid should be provided directly to these students to support their academic recovery. Structuring aid in this way would prioritize direct funding assistance for school districts that have reopened and children with the greatest needs.

Structuring new federal emergency aid in this manner would be consistent with past education emergencies that required federal support by prioritizing needs of children who have been unable to attend school. For example, after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, Congress provided $880 million through the Impact Aid program to schools that enrolled children that had been displaced from the Gulf Coast. At the time, thousands of children were forced out of school due to natural disasters and Congress recognized that its responsibility was to provide funding in a manner that allowed students to attend a new school of their parents choice. In 2020, millions of children have been forced out of school by a pandemic and have limited options to receive the instruction they need to recover from prolonged school closures without financial support.

Conclusion

With more than $100 billion in new education funding likely to be spent, Congress has a responsibility to use aid to provide funding directly to at-risk student groups who have been affected by prolonged school closures. Millions of children have not been in a classroom since March. For disadvantaged children, prolonged school closures will lead to one year’s worth of learning lost. Left unaddressed, the COVID-19 pandemic and school closures could increase the academic achievement gap between rich and poor children for a generation of children.