President Biden announces $81 billion in immediate funding to states for school reopening
During the National Safe School Reopening Summit today, President Joe Biden announced that $81 billion of the $130 billion allocated under the American Rescue Plan (ARP) will be released to all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico immediately.
Biden opened his remarks by thanking the nation’s teachers and school support staff.
“Thanks to all of you. When many schools had to go to remote learning, many of you had to go it alone. Teachers had to change everything overnight and become tech support, social workers often while trying to take care of their own children. Administrators had to become procurement officers, making sure everyone had devices and a way to connect to the internet from home. You saw bus drivers dropping off meals instead of picking kids up. And there’s been so much heroic work to help children stay connected," he said.
Biden reiterated his goal of having the majority of K-8 schools open by his first 100 days in office.
“I need the states to move quickly to get these resources down to the school districts and put them to work. My message is, 'Help is here.' Help is here for schools to purchase PPE, to hire additional personnel like nurses, counselors, custodial staff, improve ventilation and sanitation, and avoid devastating layoffs and give students extra support,” he added.
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona announced that the department is launching a Summer Learning & Enrichment Collaborative. The initiative calls on states to use ARP funding to build summer programs to help address the lost instructional and extracurricular time students may have experienced due to the pandemic. The program will have a particular emphasis on underserved communities.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), also addressed the summit to discuss school openings.
“This experience was front and center for me as I took this role at the CDC. But today I’m hopeful because of the opportunity. We now have to get our children safely back to in-person learning. The hope is based on real-world experience, evidence and science,” she said.
“The CDC believes that schools should be the last place to close and the first place to open. You are so vital to making that happen. And now we have the data, the science, and the resources to make this a reality for all of our schools across this country.”
Reggie Wade is a writer for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter at @ReggieWade.
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