Official figures released on state, federal CARES Act funding to districts to address Covid-19

Photo: Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times/Polaris

As Congress and President Trump wrestle over how much to provide in the next round of relief from the coronavirus, California school districts, county offices of education and charter schools must decide what to do with the $6.8 billion in federal and state funds that already are coming their way.

They’ll have flexibility in how to spend them but not much time. In passing the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act in March, Congress set a Dec. 31 deadline to spend the money.

In early June, EdSource published estimates on how the state planned to distribute the funds in the first proposal. During final budget talks, the Legislature added about $1 billion to what Gov. Gavin Newsom originally had proposed, including  $540 million from the state’s General Fund.

Late last month, the California Department of Education published the official breakdown of how much each district, charter school and county office would receive, which EdSource published Thursday in this database. It took the state that long to crunch the numbers because Newsom and the Legislature didn’t agree on how to distribute most of the money until days before passing the state budget on June 26.

By now, districts and charters should have received the $1.5 billion from the CARES Act that Congress allocated based on how much they normally receive in Title I funding for low-income children. They can spend that money on coping with the immediate effects of the pandemic such as buying personal protective equipment and supplies, providing meals for students after schools closed and planning for school reopening.

Congress gave governors considerable discretion to decide how to use CARES Act funding. Newsom allotted an additional $5.3 billion to K-12 in his final 2020-21 budget to encourage districts to deal with the learning loss that most students experienced in the abrupt transition to remote learning after he shut down schools in March.

Because low-income families have suffered the most during the pandemic, and greater numbers lacked computers and internet access, Newsom and the Legislature allocated the money based on districts’ and charter schools’ percentages of low-income children, English learners and students with disabilities. Language in the budget bill cited longer school days, an extended year, tutoring and staff training as examples of suitable expenditures, along with other pandemic-related purposes. Newsom said districts should tap into this money to buy laptops and internet access for students who still don’t have them.

Few districts have announced how they’ll address students’ learning loss from the shift last spring to distance learning. Reopening virtually will force them to change their strategies to prevent further harm. Districts will be required to provide details in a new Learning Continuity and Attendance Plan, which they must pass by Sept. 30. Before writing it, district officials must consult with teachers, parents and the community.

School districts, charter schools and county offices of education will have $6.8 billion this year to cover the costs of coping with the coronavirus pandemic. The federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, passed by Congress in March, will fund 90% of the total, with the rest from the state’s General Fund. In negotiations over the 2020-21 state budget, Gov. Newsom and the Legislature added nearly $1 billion to what Newsom had proposed in his revised May budget.