How Ga. school districts are spending $6 billion in federal COVID relief funds

ATLANTA — A new report looks at how Georgia’s schools are using the influx of nearly $6 billion in federal COVID relief funds that have flowed to districts across the state since 2020.

While 10% of the funds were earmarked for the state Department of Education, the other 90% went directly to school districts. The federal funding did not come with the usual regulatory restrictions, providing districts with flexibility to use the money to address local needs.

A new report released by the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education on Thursday, Nov. 17, finds districts across the state are now using the funds to address longer-term needs after initially focusing on immediate needs like boosting technological capacity and ensuring students’ access to food when the pandemic first hit.

“We … see sort of a trend where the local districts are really moving from crisis management mode,” said GPEE President Dana Rickman said. “Now, they’re really moving more into implementing plans to help students recover from lost learning.”

Despite the shared experience of the pandemic, districts’ responses were marked by “the diversity of adversity,” added Keith Simmons, superintendent of Griffin-Spalding County Schools.

Each Georgia district faced unique needs and has come up with its own approach to using the funds.

Most districts have used the money to try to boost students’ academic performance. Around 87% of districts have used the funds to hire additional staff to help address student learning loss via one-on-one or small group tutoring. Many districts also used the money to boost summer learning programs.