School districts nationwide face a dilemma in how to keep paying for programs and infrastructure funded through nearly $200 billion in COVID-19 relief money, which expires in September.
Many states have used the influx of federal funds as a cover to push for permanent tax cuts, according to experts, which will leave schools to scramble for money after the loss of state tax revenue.
"By 2028, the tax cuts across states will total $111 billion in lost revenue, and that revenue funds all sorts of public services, including education," Joanna LeFebvre, research associate on the state fiscal policy team for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, told The Hill.
"The states that have not cut taxes in the last few years, or that have raised revenue in the last few years, are going to be much better positioned to continue making investments."
School districts have been spending federal money on teachers salaries, hiring staff, updating infrastructure, and more, and when the federal programs end, that means they need a way to maintain funding.
LeFebvre said that's a different worry than when the money was initially allocated, as many districts feared that they were not going to be able to completely spend the money and that the unspent funds would go back to the federal government.
"We're less concerned that schools are not going to be able to spend the money now," LeFebvre said. "Most districts are on track to do that."
During the pandemic, Congress allocated almost $200 billion through three rounds of funding through the Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief (ESSER) program.
According to an EdWeek Research Center Survey last fall, 48% of district leaders said they expect to use state funding to pay for the new programs when the ESSER money ends, with 37% expecting to use local taxes, and 25% saying they see no funding sources to pay for the expenses.
Lindsay Dworkin, senior vice president of policy and government affairs at NWEA, an education research organization, said she is not optimistic that there will be more funding from Congress, but she does believe it is necessary.
"I think when the pandemic began, when the funding was first approved, it was absolutely not clear how much disruption there would be and what would happen to student learning," Dworkin said.
There have been almost no talks on Capitol Hill about approving another round of federal COVID-19 funds for schools. The money has also come under fire from Republicans, who said in 2023 that the funds had not been spent on helping students get through the pandemic but instead were spent on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
Meanwhile, district leaders will need to determine by Sept. 30 how to spend their ESSER funds, then will have four months to spend the money unless they receive a waiver from the federal Department of Education.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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