TN to get $1.1B for schools in federal relief package
Tennessee is set to receive more than $1.1 billion in new federal funding for K-12 education through Congress’ latest $900 billion coronavirus relief package.
Secretary of Education Betsy Devos announced Tuesday that more than $54 billion in emergency relief funding is now available to states and schools through the legislation, signed into law by President Donald Trump last week.
Devos is also strongly urging states and educators to use the funding to fully reopen K-12 schools in-person and to “take immediate action to address the unprecedented learning loss” caused by a lack of in-person school, the education secretary said in a strongly worded letter to state education commissioners Tuesday.
“Every student deserves access to a full-time education and the opportunity to safely learn in-person if they choose. Sadly, all too many schools are still refusing to serve their students, while more than $9 billion in emergency CARES Act funds — money that’s been available since April — hasn’t been drawn down,” Devos said in a statement. “This new relief funding, in addition to the funds still languishing in CARES Act accounts, must be used to deliver a quality, full-time education to every student and to identify and remediate students who have fallen behind.”
Tennessee will get $1.1 billion and is among 14 states receiving more than $1 billion each.
The funding comes as part of an overall $81.9 billion that Congress set aside for K-12 and higher education for the Education Stabilization Fund as part of the latest COVID-19 relief package — the same bill that sent $600 checks to most Americans.
The funding follows $30 billion allocated for education to all 50 states under the CARES Act in April. The Tennessee Department of Education previously received nearly $260 million in CARES funding – more than 90% of which was allocated to local school districts, Tennessee Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn previously said.
Most school districts quickly depleted those early CARES Act funds, with some like Metro Nashville Public Schools turning to funds allocated to cities and counties for additional aid.
This new round of funding gives Tennessee twice the funding the state received under the federal government’s most recent education initiative, Race to the Top.
“The latest round of COVID-19 relief funding to support K-12 education will bring more than $1.1 billion to Tennessee — twice the amount our state received for Race to the Top,” Victoria Robinson, spokesperson for the state education department, said in an email. “This surge of funding will create huge opportunity for our districts and schools to not only respond to needs that have emerged as a result of the pandemic but also accelerate progress and outcomes for our students.”
Of the $1.1 billion, at least $997 million is required to be directly distributed to local school districts, according to the U.S. Department of Education. Individual state education agencies can keep only a limited amount for administrative funding — in Tennessee’s case, $5.5 million is the maximum the state can use for the education department itself.
Both Schwinn and Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee have continued to advocate for schools to reopen in-person since they first closed for the coronavirus pandemic in March, but Robinson didn’t comment on Devos’ remarks Tuesday.
The majority of Tennessee school districts did resume classes at least partially in-person in the fall, but many schools also closed early ahead of the winter holidays as the number of COVID-19 cases surged across the state.
As classes resume for the spring semester, many districts in Middle Tennessee as well as three of the state’s four largest districts – Shelby County Schools, Metro Nashville Public Schools and Hamilton County Schools – will begin the semester remotely.
How to spend the $1.1 billion in federal funding will likely come up during the special legislative session Jan. 19.
Meghan Mangrum covers education in Nashville for the USA TODAY NETWORK — Tennessee. Contact her at mmangrum@tennessean.com. Follow her on Twitter @memangrum.