Most of the pandemic relief money for reopening schools went unused

Earlier in the pandemic, Washington rushed to flush as much money into the public school system as they could and to do so as quickly as possible. Through several stages, the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief program was intended to pay for training in virtual learning while upgrading school ventilation systems and expanding the space available for social distancing. The obvious intent was to find a way to get the schools open again as soon as possible to minimize the impact the shutdowns would have on the children’s education. As we all know by now, the teachers’ unions fought tooth and claw to keep the schools closed. Now, a review of the funds allocated for ESSER provides a more complete picture of what happened. As it turns out, less than half of that money was ever spent despite having been appropriated in huge amounts. How did this happen? (Washington Post)Read More