Educators and policymakers are finding themselves under the microscope on how they鈥檙e using billions of dollars in pandemic relief aid, and that could become an even bigger political issue in the months ahead.
The scrutiny from politicians, the media, advocacy groups, researchers, and others comes as individual school districts increasingly are the subject of attention on everything from pandemic relief to issues like critical race theory and equity-focused programs in schools. And it extends to Washington, where lawmakers recently pressed federal officials on the amount of aid and how helpful it is.
Questions about how schools are using the COVID aid money in particular鈥攁nd whether they are spending it fast enough鈥攄ate back to the early days of the CARES Act in early 2020. A few instances of districts using pandemic aid have drawn skeptical reactions. and more transparency in general about pandemic K-12 aid have grown as time has gone on. California鈥檚 state auditor has of schools鈥� use of $24 billion in relief. And relatively high-profile decisions like , even temporary ones that have community support during a surge in COVID cases, could attract skepticism focused on why current funding isn鈥檛 enough to keep children in classrooms.
In recent months, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona has repeatedly the of returning safely to in-person learning and how COVID funding supports such efforts.
Some lawmakers have already been harsh and blunt about how they view the COVID relief for education.
鈥淭he Democrats鈥� radical spending spree should not be seen as anything other than a frenzied attempt to score political points with teachers鈥� unions,鈥� Rep. Burgess Owens, R-Utah, told U.S. Department of Education officials during a Nov. 17 House education subcommittee hearing. 鈥淒emocrats have shown little interest in how these funds are being used and if they鈥檝e accomplished any of the attempted purposes.鈥� (Owens is the subcommittee鈥檚 ranking member.)
Such scrutiny could intersect with new 鈥淧arents鈥� Bill of Rights鈥� bills introduced by congressional Republicans, who in the wake of Glenn Youngkin鈥檚 victory in the Virginia gubernatorial race are demanding that teachers and schools leaders be much more transparent about decisions concerning curriculum, library interests, and other matters, including budgets. And it could drive Capitol Hill hearings and other oversight activities if the GOP takes control of one or both chambers of Congress following the 2022 midterm elections.
How use of funds could prompt uncomfortable questions
After researching the on COVID-related expenses in schools, Georgetown University Professor Nora Gordon said that if a district is struggling to find and hire substitute teachers and classes are interrupted as a result, for example, scrutiny could quickly follow as to whether pandemic money being spent elsewhere should have been redirected.
鈥淚f a district is not delivering services that would seem reasonable at any time or in response to COVID, and then it says they don鈥檛 have the money, people should be asking, 鈥極h, well, what are you spending the ESSER money on?鈥欌�� she said.
But district leaders should aggressively assert the flexibility the law gives them when deciding how to use aid money for COVID mitigation and helping students recover academically and otherwise, said Noelle Ellerson Ng, the associate executive director of AASA, the School Superintendents Association.
鈥淓very time I speak to superintendents, I am stressing for them, number one, the intended and inherent flexibility in the law鈥� providing COVID aid, she said. Ellerson Ng added that, in general and within reason, 鈥淚f it is not prohibited, it is allowed.鈥�
In an exchange with Deputy Secretary of Education Cindy Marten during the House subcommittee hearing鈥攚hich also featured Republicans鈥� concerns about department grants for history education, and the Biden administration鈥檚 approach to 鈥擱ep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., pressed her about why people should be confident about the benefits of all the COVID aid. 鈥淗ow can parents know that COVID-relief funds have had a net positive impact on their children?鈥� he asked at one point.
Marten pointed to the that features data on COVID-19 relief for K-12 as well as higher education. This and other monitoring of spending by districts 鈥減rovides the clarity and transparency for everybody to be able to access that and to ensure that the dollars are being used in the intended manner,鈥� Marten told lawmakers.
The sentiments from Owens, Banks, and others could drive extensive federal oversight of schools and relief money if, as many expect, Republicans take control of one or both chambers of Congress after the 2022 midterm elections.
Democrats also aren鈥檛 averse to raising the issue. Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., the chairman of the House education committee, told Marten he assumed that if the Education Department identified districts that were wasting COVID relief funds, it would tell the media about those districts.
鈥淭here is a plethora of resources for states and districts to know how to direct the funds in the ways intended,鈥� Marten said.
Superintendents should think carefully about framing decisions in the context of students and not adult interests, Ellerson Ng said. For instance, if a school spends money on a new sports facility, she said, leaders should emphasize how using funding that way improves children鈥檚 physical and psychological well-being and helps build social connections for students after the pandemic鈥檚 negative effects on those issues. In addition, building more infrastructure for things like athletics can help schools socially distance students if the need arises, she noted.
鈥淎s an administrator, you have the responsibility to make the decision, but you also have the responsibility to communicate that decision鈥� to school communities, Ellerson Ng said. 鈥淓ven if they鈥檙e not bought in, help them understand.鈥�
A surge of money that may not last or solve all problems
Some education advocates worry that schools鈥� failure to be consistently transparent and engage productively with parents and others about their responses to the pandemic鈥攊ncluding their use of relief funding鈥攈as contributed to public concerns, and has already led to political consequences.
Emerging research about the issue in general includes just how much education and other child-focused programs are getting in pandemic relief; how unprecedented that spending is; and when it could start to tail off.
Legislation passed in response to the pandemic will increase spending on schools, nutrition, child care, and other programs benefiting children between 2020 and 2027, according to a study published Nov. 17 by the Urban Institute. That increase is more than annualized federal government spending on children before the pandemic, Urban Institute Senior Fellow Julia B. Isaacs and Research Fellow Cary wrote.
The Urban Institute report projects that pandemic spending on schools under the Education Stabilization Fund (which includes ESSER as well as other funding) in 2022. Isaacs and Lou noted, however, that the $600 billion increase in spending on children is a small part of the $5 trillion in spending on the pandemic in federal relief bills.
The relief packages from Washington don鈥檛 mean all schools are (and will be) supersaturated with funding. Research about covering COVID costs from Gordon and University of California, Los Angeles Associate Professor Sarah Reber estimates that 85 percent of districts with low shares of students in poverty would face budget shortfalls of $200 per student over multiple years, even with pandemic relief. And there have been notable disparities between districts when it comes to pandemic relief, with some leaders reported that their districts have missed out entirely on some of the aid packages.
The surge of federal funding to education and other child-focused programs driven by the pandemic, as well as criticism and skepticism as to how it鈥檚 used, could soon grow beyond the enacted relief the Urban Institute studied.
For one thing, if the Build Back Better Act currently being considered in Congress is signed into law by President Joe Biden, billions of additional dollars are slated to flow to child care, preschool, child nutrition, and other programs benefiting school-age children over roughly the next decade.
More narrowly, House and Senate Democrats are mulling fiscal 2022 budget proposals that could more than double this year鈥檚 roughly $16.5 billion in Title I spending for disadvantaged students, which would provide a further boost to relatively high-poverty districts.
Lawmakers behind these proposals say the additional funding for Title I and other education programs will help mitigate the harm done by the pandemic to student鈥檚 academic achievement and well-being.
Exactly when lawmakers pass that budget, and whether such a major increase would persist beyond the upcoming year, remains to be seen.
