The first federal stimulus package is called Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. In total, Minnesota received $349 million directed toward education through several pots of money – 1) Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) - $38 million, 2) Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) - $140 million, 3) Child Nutrition Grants - $160 million, 4) Library Services and Technology Grants $510,000, and 5) Head Start - $10 million. The ESSER funding will be distributed directly to school districts through the Title-1 formula, which is based on the concentration of poverty in a district. Governor Tim Walz had discretionary authority on spending the GEER funding ($38 million), which mostly goes directly to school districts for technology access, summer school programming, and birth to 8-year-old wraparound services.
Much of the GEER and ESSER funding went to support Minnesota’s historically underserved students (HUS), who are the most vulnerable of falling even further behind during these difficult times. However, districts without a significant population of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch receive very little funding. Yet, all districts will experience increased costs to support students, teachers, and educators and keep them safe when bringing students back for in-person schooling. Also, school districts must offer a year-long distance learning choice for when the schools are expanding to in-person learning, but parents want to keep their children home. Within the CARES act is another funding stream called the Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF), which is designed to meet these types of costs. The Governor requested $256 million from the CRF for schools. The bulk of this funding, $244.8 million, is for operating expenses and to support services for students, families, and educators. Another $5.2 million is for face coverings for every student, educator, and school staff person. Finally, $6 million goes towards making COVID home tests available for every educator and school staff person, plus coordination and support from MDE and MDH in the event of any school exposure to COVID. Seventy-six percent of the CRF funding is based on student enrollment in each school district (ADM). The other 24% is additional support for historically underserved students.
Combined, CARES and CRF seem to provide a reasonably equitable aid package for our schools. The CARES Act aims to support our most at-risk students and families. The CRF helps school districts manage the many financial challenges associated with providing quality academic, social, and emotional learning for all students while doing the most to keep students and educators safe. The concern is whether the new funding will meet all the unique needs of providing education in a pandemic. The state does not have additional revenue for schools and cannot deficit spend like the federal government. We need the lawmakers at the national level to get back to work and find a compromise to the final coronavirus relief package that they were working on. Additional education funding could be included. After all, making sure schools can safely operate so students can return to the classroom is critical to reopening the U.S. economy.
