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The coronavirus aid proposal of US President Joe Biden would allocate nearly $130 billion toward reopening the nation’s schools. More than $128.6 billion would go toward helping K-12 schools reopen from virus-induced shutdowns under draft legislation introduced last week by the US House Committee on Education and Labor. The CBO (Congressional Budget Office) said that just $6 billion of that is earmarked for spending before October, while about $64 billion (roughly $32 billion per year) is appropriated for fiscal years 2022 and 2023. The remaining $60 billion would be spent through the fiscal year 2028. But state departments of education already have between $53 billion and $63 billion in unspent federal funds from the 2 respective relief packages passed by Congress in March and December.

An analysis of US Department of Education data said, “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”. A White House spokesperson informed FOX Business that Biden is committed to providing schools with the resources they need to safely reopen and fully serve their students, including providing enough funding to cover schools’ increased costs due to the virus and to address budget shortfalls. The CDC has said the key policies for safe reopening include proper hand-washing, cleaning & maintaining facilities, and contact tracing. A spokesperson for the agency said, “The president’s proposal is based on a careful assessment of needs for this school year and into the next. These needs are urgent, and we believe, based on this analysis, that the funds would be used much faster than CBO assumes”.

He added, “CBO itself expresses uncertainty about its assumption about how fast funds are used”. The CDC estimated in December that implementing its recommended mitigation strategies in K-12 schools would cost somewhere between $55 and $442 per child. It is noteworthy that there are roughly 51 million K-12 public school students, meaning it could cost anywhere between $2.8 billion to $22.5 billion to reopen schools. The Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity report said, “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”. Senate Republicans have lambasted the size and scope of Biden’s nearly $2 trillion relief proposal. They have estimated that state departments of education have used just $4 billion of the $68 billion in relief funds authorized by Congress.