Federal Aid for Public Schools Falls Short of Education Groups’ Requests
March 27, 2020
The $2.2 trillion coronavirus economic aid package signed by President Trump last week commits “$31 billion in dedicated emergency funding for K-12 and higher education,” with $13.5 billion for public school budgets. Already, education groups are “anticipating and discussing the need for another round of coronavirus aid” as the package falls short of the $75 billion they had asked for in March. Of the $13.5 billion for public schools, 90 percent is “earmarked for school districts through the Title I aid formula” and could be used to “support a variety of learning needs and various activities under the Every Student Succeeds Act,” including remote learning for schools that have closed due to the coronavirus.