Unspent Federal COVID Education Relief Funds Exceed $50 Billion

President Biden has proposed $130 billion in new federal funding to help the nation’s schools reopen as part of a $1.9 trillion stimulus package. Congressional leaders have committed to quickly consider the administration’s proposal. But will billions of additional federal funds actually help public schools reopen?

State departments of education currently already have between $53 and $63 billion in unspent federal funds from March and December emergency funding packages, according to U.S. Department of Education data.

State education agencies had $13 billion in unspent CARES Act funding as of November 30th

In March, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which provided $30.75 billion to the U.S. Department of Education for an Education Stabilization Fund. The fund included $16.2 billion for K-12 education, including $13.2 billion for an “Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief” (ESSER) fund.

As of November 30th, state departments of education had only spent $3 billion out of the $12.8 billion in ESSER funds awarded last spring, according to Department of Education data. Only three states (Arkansas, Iowa, and Missouri) had spent more than half of their ESSER funding. Eight states had spent less than 10 percent. New York and Vermont had spent less than 1 percent of their funds. Overall, state education agencies had spent less than 25 percent of ESSER funds after the first three months of the current school year.

The table below details CARES Act ESSER funding awards since March and what had been spent as of November 30th.

The Department of Education distributed $54 billion in new funding in January

In December, Congress passed the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021 (CRRSA), which included another $54 billion for the ESSER fund for state education agences. On January 5, 2021, the Department of Education announced each state’s allocation.

Funds currently available to state education agencies

Based on the funds that were unspent as of November 30th and new awards made in January, state education agencies have between $53 and $63 billion in ESSER funds available in February 2021. Since less than 25 percent of the March CARES Act ESSER funds had been spent by November, its unlikely that states have spent the remaining funds from March over the past two months. Moreover, funds received in January are also unlikely to have been spent.

Implementing the CDC’s mitigation guidelines should cost approximately $23 billion

In December, the CDC estimated that implementing its recommended mitigation strategies in pre-K and K-12 schools would cost between $55 to $442 per child. Nationally, there are approximately 51 million K-12 public school students. According to the CDC’s estimate, implementing precautions to safely reopen should cost roughly $23 billion. With more than $53 billion in available federal emergency funds, state education agencies should have more than enough funds to implement the CDC’s recommended mitigation strategies to safely reopen.

As Congress considers appropriating additional emergency education funding, lawmakers should examine how and whether funds provided in March and December have been spent to understand if addition resources are needed to reopen schools.