Educators: Bill just the start of funding needed
Stimulus package includes $82B for schools
Education officials say the stimulus package that Congress passed on Monday is only the beginning of the funding schools will need to rebuild after the pandemic.
The $900 billion package includes $82 billion in funding for local schools, colleges and universities.
“We are grateful to Michigan’s Congressional delegation for working closely with school leaders and fighting to help our schools and our students recover from this pandemic,” said Robert McCann, executive director of the K-12 Alliance of Michigan, in a statement.
“While we are pleased to see this stimulus plan move forward and provide some short-term funding relief for our schools, attention must now immediately shift to the longterm investments that will be necessary to get both our students back into the classroom and provide them with the assistance they will need to aid in their academic, emotional and social recovery,” he said.
“Today’s action is a start, but we now need Gov. Whitmer and the Michigan Department of Education to release the funds they’ll be receiving as quickly as possible and in a way that ensures all of our students can best benefit from this federal aid, as well as for Congress to get back to work in January to provide the path forward that commits to the long- term success of our schools and our state.”
The alliance is made up of every superintendent from all districts in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Genesee and St.Clair counties.
Michigan education officials expect widespread academic losses, as well as mental, social and emotional impacts of the long periods of remote learning over the past nine months.
Lawmakers tacked on a $1.4 trillion catchall spending bill and thousands of pages of other end- of- session business to the pandemic relief package.
The relief package, unveiled Monday afternoon, sped through the House and Senate in a matter of hours. The Senate cleared the massive package by a 92- 6 vote after the House approved the COVID-19 package by another lopsided vote, 359- 53.
Lawmakers wrangled over the relief question for months; the logjam broke after President- elect Joe Biden urged his party to accept a compromise with top Republicans that is smaller than many Democrats would have liked.
The bill combines coronavirus- fighting funds with financial relief for individuals and businesses. It would establish a temporary $300 per week supplemental jobless benefit and a $600 direct stimulus payment to most Americans, along with a new round of subsidies for hard- hit businesses, restaurants, and theaters and money for schools, health care providers and renters facing eviction.