When I started to write this article about the status of our federal Covid-19 funding under:
- the (CARES) Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act
- the (CRRSA) Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act
- and now the (ARPA) Covid-19 America's Response Program Act
which all add up to an additional $3,900 per public student and about $2,500 to private non-profit school students, K-12, I thought all I have to say is spend it !!!!!!
It is there for the taking.
Then when I looked into how slowly the school districts are spending the funding in most areas, which tends to be somewhere in the 20% to 40% range (according to DOE), with just a total dispersing level of 22% up to July.
So where should we focus our efforts?
- Accelerating and sustaining the safe return to in-person instruction
- Implementing COVID-19 prevention and mitigation strategies, including expanding access to vaccinations for school staff and students
- Offering summer learning and enrichment programs
- Providing social, emotional, and mental health support to students
- Addressing the academic impact of lost instructional time
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Dr. Don Gemeinhardt is a grant and proposal development subject matter expert working with various companies involved with education, compliance training, student, faculty and police officer development. He is also an Adjunct Professor teaching in Education, and other areas and was formerly a Director at the Research Triangle Institute where he developed different training and analysis tools for a variety of agencies. He is also a retired Colonel (USAF) where he previously worked in Law Enforcement, Intelligence and Educational and Training areas for many years.
