Jake Bryant, Wayne Redmond, Neil Shelat, and Casey Willis
The Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund, enacted three years ago in response to the pandemic, allocated $190 billion in federal funding to US public schools. As its expiration looms, three key questions emerge:
- Where have districts spent ESSER stimulus funds so far?
- How much is left to spend, and how do schools plan to allocate the remaining dollars?
- Are district leaders likely to reconsider their spending priorities once the stimulus funding expires?