Roadmap of Federal COVID-19 Relief Funds

Kathy Dunn, Federal Programs Consultant, CCOSA

When schools were reeling with the reality of the perils brought into the schoolhouse by the COVID-19 pandemic, there was early promise of some financial relief intended to mitigate the perilous effects of: impending sickness, emotional illness, and possible death among school families; inevitable learning loss brought by time away from classrooms; the lack of sustainable nutrition and learning supplies in homes; the daunting task of delivering distance learning with limited technology; and the lack of internet connectivity.

Schools began to create their seemingly endless lists of critical needs which could be addressed when the funding arrived including:

• Take-home technology for high-quality distance learning

• Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for essential workers providing child nutrition services, homeless education services, and delivery of essential learning tools such as technology, hotspots, learning packets in the spring; PPE for all students, teachers, and all staff when school reopens in the fall

• Digital platforms to manage content and record-keeping in remote learning

• School Nurses

• School Counselors

• Bandwidth; Infrastructure across the state

• Internet connectivity in the homes of students

• Food security plans, supplies, and personnel

• Cleaning and sanitizing products and equipment

• Financial instability caused by economic downturn and reduced funding

CARES Act – Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Funds

On March 27, 2020, President Trump signed into law the $150 billion dollar funding package known as the CARES Act. Within the CARES Act was the $13 billion Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund which was distributed to states with a shelf-life of 27-months through June 30, 2022. Oklahoma’s portion of the ESSER fund was distributed to the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) according to the Title I funding formula, or the number of students qualified for the federal Free and Reduced Lunch program. The CARES Act for K-12 funding came as displayed on page 28 of the full issue.

CARES Act - Governor’s Education Emergency Relief (GEER) Fund

Gov. Stitt received $39.9 million total in GEER funding for statewide Education Relief. Gov. Stitt awarded $8 million of GEER funds combined with $8 million awarded from Superintendent Hofmeister’s ESSER funds for competitive Incentive Grants to public schools for emergency needs. The combined $16 million in Incentive Grants from both ESSER and GEER were awarded to 150 school districts serving approximately 282,700 students.

With the remaining GEER funds, rather than optimize federal relief dollars to reach as many school aged children as possible, the Governor’s plan directs one quarter of the total funding package dedicated to 1,500 private school students (just 0.2% of all school children in Oklahoma). This means that public GEER funding disproportionately serves the state’s approximately 65,000 private school students rather than Oklahoma’s 700,000 children who attend public schools. Sixty percent of Oklahoma’s public school students, approximately 415,000 students, come from low-income families.

Congress Recesses Without a New Stimulus Package or a Resolution to the Interim Rule Lawsuits

When Congress returned to Capitol Hill on July 24, their primary goal was to pass another stimulus relief package to help carry the United States through the lingering and staggering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Three relief packages emerged, any of which would have provided twice the amount of funding for education than the original CARES Act. Each of the funding package options also set guidance which would have turned back Secretary DeVos’s Interim Rule, reinstating the congressional intent for equitable services in the CARES Act. When the House and Senate failed to negotiate an agreement on the new funding package and recessed for the month of August, President Trump signed into law his executive order which failed to address education funding or the issue of the Interim Rule.

Governor Stitt Claims that Oklahoma Does Not Need Another Round of Stimulus Money

On August 6, Governor Stitt announced in a press conference that he believes Oklahoma does not need another round of COVID-relief stimulus money. This announcement came as quite a shock to schools who are welcoming students back to school with options for full-time virtual learning, blended learning, and in-person learning. All of these are the right learning plans to meet the needs of all students, but they all come with new and additional costs.

As we look back over the list of needs at the beginning of this article, have we met those needs as students enter their FY21 school year? Sadly, no. Much of schools’ PPE, sanitizing supplies, and curriculum subscriptions are disposable and will be exhausted before schools’ need for them is exhausted. Oklahoma schools and families are still far from complete access to internet infrastructure and connectivity across the state. There is at least one school district that has no internet service, nor cell phone service in the location of the school building. The CARES-ESSER funding has allowed many schools to acquire more digital devices, but still nowhere near a device for every student or even every family. Oklahoma schools were already in dire need of more school nurses and counselors, and this was before the effects of a deadly pandemic on our students. The needs in Oklahoma public schools that educate more than 90% of its children are great. Schools will encounter needs they never knew existed for Oklahoma’s 700,000 public school children.

CCOSA has sent a letter to the Oklahoma Congressional Delegation regarding the need for a second round of stimulus money with the flexibility to meet the ever-evolving needs that the pandemic has now placed in a spotlight which has a lens filtered by equity. In addition, the CCOSA staff is in constant contact with the Oklahoma delegates to express the needs of Oklahoma schools.

There are Oklahoma school children with health compromises attending school in-person this fall because they lacked access to online devices, service, and content. Every Oklahoma student deserves access to technology devices, content, and service, counselors, nurses, sustainable food sources, and health and safety supplies. The need for online instructional options is swelling. The need for replenishing the supply of PPE will rise as supplies are expended this fall. Until we can say that there is equity for all Oklahoma students’ educational needs to be met, Oklahoma needs another round of stimulus money.

Where does this leave Oklahoma Schools?

Schools are left to wonder if relief is coming to carry our Oklahoma school children through the devastation of this pandemic. While schools are grateful for the relief that came in the CARES Act, the needs are still overwhelming. It brings to mind some lyrics from an old Chicago tune, “Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care?”

Dr. Pam Deering, Executive Director for the Cooperative Council of Oklahoma School Administrators, answers the question with a resounding,

“Yes! Oklahomans love their students and schools. Their spirit and determination are evident as schools deliver learning in new ways never imagined! We must remain staunch advocates of public education and continue to advance the need for stimulus money for public schools despite what is communicated by our Governor to Congressional delegation!”