Public school districts still have tens of billions in federal funds to spend helping kids make up the learning they lost to Covid, but some experts worry that so far schools have spent too much of that money making long-delayed fixes to run-down physical facilities.
The Edunomics Lab, a Georgetown University research center that tracks the spending nationwide, estimates that as of December, about a quarter of the $184 billion in pandemic aid designated for schools since 2020 and spent so far had gone toward facilities and construction.
President Joe Biden signed the bill approving the third and largest infusion of cash, the American Rescue Plan, in March 2021. That funding came with some strings attached. School districts had to reserve at least 20% of the money to address pandemic learning loss — such strategies as tutoring, summer enrichment programs or after-school learning. But the majority of the funds were left up to the districts’ discretion, leading to major expenditures on teacher salaries and facility renovations — like general building repairs, HVAC installations and costly athletic complexes. The dollars spent on buildings rather than learning loss concerned some experts, parents and officials.
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School officials in tiny, rural Northumberland County, Virginia, used $1.5 million of the funding to finance a new classroom extension and athletic facility at the county’s lone public high school. Principal Travis Burns toured the construction site with NBC News correspondent Stephanie Gosk. Said Burns, “Many school districts are using funding to address some of those facility needs that weren’t addressed prior to the pandemic, and I think are long overdue and much needed in the communities.”
Schools still have over $80 billion to spend from the American Rescue Plan, and in December, the Department of Education…
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