The extra Federal funds run out at the end of September….
There IS the likely prospect of cutbacks for schools staff…..
But?
During the pandemic ?
The US Birth rate Increased….
Which means in a year or two?
There IS going to be a few years with a slight INCREASE in the student population for schools….
Hmmmm?
Schools across the country are announcing teacher and staff layoffs as districts brace for the end of a pandemic aid package that delivered the largest one-time federal investment in K-12 education.
The funds must be used by the end of September, creating a sharp funding cliff as schools also struggle with widespread enrollment declines and inflation.
Many districts have warned of layoffs as the current school year comes to a close and next year’s budgets are planned. The local headlines about teachers likely won’t help Americans who remain stubbornly pessimistic about the economy feel any better, adding to the challenge President Joe Biden faces to show voters how things are better than they were four years ago….
…
After the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020, Congress authorized three rounds of federal funding to help K-12 schools respond.
Between March 2020 and March 2021, lawmakers authorized $190 billion in funding for K-12 schools – roughly six times what they receive from the federal government in a normal year.
At first, many districts used the money to reopen school buildings by buying masks and cleaning supplies and upgrading HVAC systems. The last and biggest round of funding, which was approved in 2021, required districts to spend at least 20% of the money to address learning loss – which could have included tutoring programs, summer school or extended school days.
Districts were given more than three years to spend the third round of money, with few other restrictions. It was largely up to local school boards to decide how to spend the funds on a broad range of pandemic-related needs, and they could choose to hire new teachers and staff even though they knew the funding would eventually dry up.
Although districts are required to report how they are spending the money, the reports often lack details, making it hard to track how many teachers were hired with the federal funding.
But a new report from CALDER, an education research center, that looked at Washington state found that roughly 12,000 positions, including more than 5,000 classroom teachers, were created with the federal funding.
“Those are people that would not have been hired if that extra funding did not exist,” said Dan Goldhaber, one of the authors of the report.
Districts that created new positions now need to decide how – and if – to fund them going forward…..