S.D. SCHOOLS MAY GET $128M IN COVID RELIEF

Stimulus funding ‘critical’ for stability, board leader says

San Diego County public schools are expected to receive about $389.6 million in total from the new federal relief package signed Sunday by President Donald Trump, including $128.1 million for San Diego Unified, according to calculations by analysts at EdSource.

California schools in general are expected to receive at least $6.8 billion, according to EdSource. That’s out of a total $54.9 billion of aid going to public schools nationwide.

San Diego Unified is the state’s second-largest school district, educating about 100,000 students with an annual budget of $1.6 billion.

Prior to this week, the district was projecting a $155 million deficit, under an assumption there would not be another federal stimulus.

This federal stimulus will help fill that budget gap, said San Diego Unified Board President Richard Barrera.

“It’s critical, because it will mean that we can have stability for the following year,” he said. “So you know we’re not going to need to be doing layoffs and program cuts.”

Schools can use the aid for a wide variety of purposes, not just those related to the pandemic.

The stimulus approved Sunday provides about four times the amount of aid that

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schools received in the f irst pandemic relief package in March, the CARES Act.

But it still falls short of what education groups nationwide say schools need to cover increased costs from the pandemic related to remote learning and reopening.

The stimulus also does not include aid for state or local governments, which Barrera worries could mean that California schools will get less state funding than they had hoped for. The vast majority of school funding comes from the state.

Barrera said schools will still need more funding to help students recover from learning loss caused by school closures and the pandemic. Those efforts could include expanded summer school or hiring more counselors to help students recover from mental health trauma caused by home isolation.

“The depths of the learning loss and, really, the social-emotional issues that students have been going through ... we really think that’s where we’re going to need some additional resources beyond what we’ve always had,” Barrera said.

Education leaders have said they are optimistic that schools will receive more funding when President-elect Joe Biden takes office, as he has said he wants to increase school funding.

The San Diego County school districts that will receive the most stimulus money, according to EdSource, are:

• San Diego Unified: $128.1 million

• Sweetwater Union High: $34.7 million

• Cajon Valley Union: $20.9 million

• Chula Vista Elementary: $18.7 million

• Vista Unified: $17 million

• Escondido Union: $16.9 million

• Grossmont Union High: $16.3 million

• Oceanside Unified: $13 million

• La Mesa-Spring Valley: $8.7 million

• San Marcos Unified: $8.4 million

The stimulus is allocated to public schools based on how much schools receive in federal Title I funding, which prioritizes schools with significant percentages of low-income students. EdSource based its calculations on Title I funding levels.