America’s K-12 schools enjoyed a boost of funding from federal pandemic aid packages during the last three school years, but that cash flow is ending in September just as the new one gets underway – forcing some districts to make tough choices about what to cut.
Many schools are considering hiring freezes, scaling back tutoring programs or providing fewer athletic and arts programs. Combined with enrollment declines seen across public K-12 schools, the budget shortfalls could also lead to some school closures.
The federal pandemic aid – about $190 billion – came from three spending packages passed by Congress between March 2020 and March 2021. The first two pieces of legislation had bipartisan support and were signed into law by former President Donald Trump. The last and biggest round of funding came from the American Rescue Plan Act, which passed with Democratic votes only during the Biden-Harris administration.
In total, the pandemic aid amounted to roughly six times what K-12 schools receive from the federal government in a normal year.
“It was an unprecedented influx of federal funds, so the impact is certainly going to be felt by students and teachers,” said Robin Lake, director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education, a nonpartisan research and policy analysis organization.
“But it will be felt more for some than others,” she added.
High-poverty schools are more at risk
Not every school received the same amount of pandemic aid. More money went to districts with more low-income families – which means those will be the places to experience the biggest funding cliffs this year. Some wealthier districts may not have received any federal pandemic aid.
But in lower-income districts, the money made up a significant portion of K-12 budgets over the past three years.
On average, the money accounted for about 5% of education budgets. But in some states where there are more low-income districts and lower state spending, the funding was more significant. In Mississippi, for example, the last round of pandemic aid accounted for nearly 11 % of education spending, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
School districts knew the pandemic funding was coming to an end and that they would be required to use or allocate the money by the end of September. Families whose school districts planned well financially may not notice much of an impact to the budget this year.
“But it’s always hard for schools to cut their budgets, and they are having to do that this year,” said Marguerite Roza, director of the Edunomics Lab, a research center focused on education finance policy at Georgetown University.
What’s on the chopping block
There were few restrictions on how school districts could use the federal money, so spending categories varied widely from new teachers and staff to tutoring programs and building improvements.
Money from the first relief package, which was approved when many schools were closed for in-person learning early in the pandemic, went to purchases like laptops that students could use from home. When students eventually returned to classrooms, many districts spent money on masks and cleaning products, as well as making HVAC improvements.
Congress required schools to use 20% of the last round of funding to address learning loss, including things like tutoring, longer school days or extending the school year.
Overall, about half of the funding was used on labor, according to data collected by the Edunomics Lab. Some districts used the money for one-time bonuses for teachers. Now that there’s no more pandemic aid coming, those bonuses are less likely to be repeated.
Any new staff positions created with the use of the federal money could be in jeopardy. About 83% of districts added staff in the 2023-2024 school year to help students catch up academically, according to a survey conducted in the spring by RAND and the Center on Reinventing Public Education. These staff positions included reading and math specialists and school counselors.
Cutting staff and programs meant to address learning loss could have a significant impact on students who, according to some studies, are still struggling to catch up.
Academic growth during the 2023-2024 school year fell short of pre-pandemic trends in nearly all grades, according to a study published in July by testing company NWEA.