Pandemic Relief Funds Proof That Public Schools Need More Funding Not

Some school districts exceeded their pre-pandemic achievement levels by using federal ESSER funding to implement programs that support student learning Since the start of the year, America’s public education system has become a national punching bag, from dangerous cuts to important teacher training grants and research initiatives, to alarming interventions in schools’ efforts to... Now, congressional leaders are pushing for a vast new voucher program, arguing that — although all evidence points to the contrary — it’s necessary to provide another option for students stuck in failing public... To be sure, too many students — particularly students of color and those from low-income backgrounds — aren’t being served well in their public schools, and it would be negligent to ignore their needs. But there is proof that the federal government needs to be providing more funding, not stripping it away from students who need the most support. Advocates and school system leaders should be uplifting the places that are supporting academic growth for all students.

That’s why we’re highlighting bright spots in districts to show that with proper funding, schools can better serve their students. An EdTrust review of research from the Education Recovery Scorecard found 119 districts that serve at least 1,000 students succeeded in raising reading and math scores, specifically for Black students, Latino students, or students... This research uses NAEP and statewide assessment data, to put unique state testing data from 43 states on the same scale, allowing for comparisons between Springfield, Massachusetts, and Springfield, Missouri, that would otherwise be... Katharine Meyer, Rachel M. Perera, Michael Hansen Michael Hansen, Katharine Meyer, Rachel M.

Perera, Jon Valant, Kenneth K. Wong Lauren Bauer, Sofoklis Goulas, Michael Hansen, Katharine Meyer, Emily Markovich Morris, Rachel M. Perera, Sarah Reber, Sweta Shah, Jon Valant Raquel Muñiz , Andrés Castro Samayoa, Shane Dunn Two teams of researchers document achievement gains, but it’s not clear what works best for students

This story was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news outlet focused on education. Reports about schools squandering their $190 billion in federal pandemic recovery money have been troubling. Many districts spent that money on things that had nothing to do with academics, particularly building renovations. Less common, but more eye-popping were stories about new football fields, swimming pool passes, hotel rooms at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas and even the purchase of an ice cream truck. So I was surprised that two independent academic analyses released in June 2024 found that some of the money actually trickled down to students and helped them catch up academically. Though the two studies used different methods, they arrived at strikingly similar numbers for the average growth in math and reading scores during the 2022-23 school year that could be attributed to each dollar...

One of the research teams, which includes Harvard University economist Tom Kane and Stanford University sociologist Sean Reardon, likened the gains to six days of learning in math and three days of learning in... Though that gain might seem small, high-poverty districts received an average of $7,700 per student, and those extra “days” of learning for low-income students added up. Still, these neediest children were projected to be one third of a grade level behind low-income students in 2019, before the pandemic disrupted education. Less than three months after the U.S. Education Department abruptly froze the several billion dollars in pandemic relief funds schools and states had a year left to spend, the agency has restored the original spending deadline, effectively unfreezing the funds nationwide. As of Thursday, all state education agencies and school districts have until March 2026 to spend remaining pandemic relief dollars—the same deadline they had before the Trump administration changed the policy.

Before this announcement, a judge had ordered that states suing the department could continue spending their funds, while those that didn’t sue were restricted. Education Secretary Linda McMahon informed states of the change in a letter sent at 6:45 p.m. on June 26, along with an accompanying FAQ document. The department decided that it wasn’t fair for states that didn’t sue to face a different policy than the ones who had sued and secured temporary relief, McMahon wrote. “The original intent of the policy announced on March 28 was to treat all states consistently with regards to safeguarding and refocusing their remaining COVID-era grant funding on students,” she wrote. “The ongoing litigation has created basic fairness and uniformity problems.”

McMahon’s letter leaves open the possibility of yanking the extended deadline yet again, if the litigation eventually goes in the department’s favor. But, she wrote, “unless and until the Department is allowed to uniformly apply the policy described in the March 28 letter to all states,” the cancellation she announced then is not in effect. This decade could go down as one of the most consequential in the history of U.S. public education. Between COVID-19 school closures, historic declines in public school enrollment, and the rise in school choice policies, the decisions made by state lawmakers in the coming years will help shape generations to come. Policymakers must have the best data possible to inform their public education decisions.

The following analysis from Reason Foundation’s K-12 Education Spending Spotlight brings together the latest figures from the U.S. Census Bureau and National Center for Education Statistics and highlights five key insights from our tool and their implications for state policymakers and other stakeholders. These critical insights include examining and ranking every state’s total K-12 and per student public school funding, the public school enrollment levels in every state and how states continue to hire more non-teaching staff... Nationwide, public school funding increased by 35.8% between 2002 and 2023, rising from $14,969 per student to $20,322 per student after adjusting for inflation, Reason Foundation’s K-12 Education Spending Spotlight finds. In total, U.S. public schools received $946.5 billion in funding in 2023, with New York topping all states at $36,976 per student, followed by New Jersey at $30,267 per student.

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