Michigan鈥檚 public schools have billions of dollars in emergency COVID-19 federal funding to spend 鈥� but they may be in danger of losing some of it if it goes unallocated by the end of September.

In 2021, President Joe Biden signed a stimulus bill that pushed funding into communities to help address economic challenges posed by COVID-19. The American Rescue Plan included funding for schools and education agencies.

Michigan in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding in 2021, on top of previous, smaller stimulus checks. In total, the state has over $5.6 billion in federal funds to spend on education projects. The 2021 money must be allocated to schools or state education agencies for a specific project by Sept. 30.

But some Michigan districts and agencies may be in danger of not meeting that deadline and losing the funding, according to .

A (DOE) indicates there is $740.4 million remaining for schools to reimburse. While some schools may have already spent their allocated money without receiving reimbursements, there are probably millions of dollars left available for claiming in the next few months.

Local educational institutions, or public and charter schools, were allocated a bulk of this money. Public schools that received the federal funding 鈥� caused by the pandemic, in addition to addressing inequalities that were exacerbated during this period. This could look like additional after school or summer programs for students, something educational advocates have .

Additional ESSER money can be used for other health and education-related projects, including work-from-home or classroom technology, additional staff, improved air quality and mental health services.

Addressing long-term challenges

The one time payments may be difficult for schools to find projects for because they will only receive the funding once, according to Anne Kuhnen, the Kids Count policy director for the Michigan League for Public Policy. For example, if a district hired a mental health professional and paid their first year salary using the stimulus check, the district would have to use its own budget going forward, since the federal funds are not recurring.

鈥淓xpiration of the funding will be especially difficult for those districts that felt as if they had no other choice than to use some of the funds for recurring expenditures鈥攁nd didn鈥檛 plan or plan well for this moment,鈥� Michigan State Superintendent, Michael Rice said in a .

Michigan children were not exempt from learning challenges during the pandemic. Grade schoolers are less proficient in key subjects like math and reading than they were in 2019, before the pandemic, according to from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. In the same report, Michigan received its lowest education ranking in 35 years. Michigan ranked 41 out of 50 states for education in the 2021-22 school year.

叠颈诲别苍鈥檚 stimulus plan hopes to address some of these academic challenges, especially as the economy could struggle with a new workforce that is not equipped with academic proficiencies.

For example, students in the United States enrolled in K-12 education during the pandemic could collectively lose $900 billion in income if math proficiencies continue to be low, according to a study from the . This is attributed to the correlation between increased earnings and rising math scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress in the thirty years prior to the pandemic.

Additionally, predicts Michigan students will make roughly 5.4% less than if there had not been a pandemic due to learning loss. This could contribute to a loss in overall gross domestic product, the dollar amount of goods and services produced, of around $300 billion for Michigan.

The researchers of the study from Hoover Institution, Eric A. Hanushek and Bradley Strauss, write that much of the ESSER funding has been used for additional tutoring or education time for students to combat learning losses, but the best way to attack the problem would be through incentives for teachers to 鈥渢ake on more demanding classroom tasks.鈥�

Rice said Michigan鈥檚 last two helped with pandemic and pre-pandemic era issues in the state, like the teacher shortage. He said recurring funding from the state budget will help address challenges like lack of literacy, transportation and teachers long-term.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 not to say that we are where we need to be from a funding perspective,鈥� Rice said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 simply to say that we鈥檝e made huge strides in the last two years, in the last two budgets, and I anticipate that this budget, we are going to make significant strides as well.鈥�

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Susan J. Demas for questions: info@michiganadvance.com. Follow Michigan Advance on and .

Even before COVID, 9 in 10 middle schoolers in the shrinking city were below proficient in math and reading, many school buildings were structurally unsound and gaping budget deficits had landed the school system under the fiscal control of the state for the better part of the last two decades.

When relief funds began flowing, the challenges were great 鈥� a year of school closures and high absence rates had set students even further behind 鈥� but so were the means. The district scored nearly , over $23,000, as any other large system nationwide, thanks to a funding formula weighted for students living in poverty. Detroit has a median household income of $34,762, according to , and a childhood poverty rate roughly three times higher than the national average.

It was a test of the full power of federal relief dollars: Could $1.3 billion help get one of the nation鈥檚 most embattled school systems back on track?

Fast-forward two years and experts question whether the influx has delivered the needed boost to students. With more than half the money already out the door, has gone toward bringing students back to classrooms, according to officials, despite two-thirds of the district鈥檚 53,400 students last year missing school at a threshold researchers say puts them academically at risk. And the superintendent in March announced to come in June.

Meanwhile, the district is using $700 million of the relief cash on expenditures it normally pays for through its general fund, stockpiling money in its reserves for district-wide facilities upgrades over the next five or more years 鈥� a creative way to skirt the September 2024 deadline on the use-it-or-lose-it federal funds.

It would be 鈥渋mpossible鈥� to complete the more than one thousand facility projects the district has planned in just a few years, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti told 社区黑料 in an email. 鈥淥ur students deserve to have roofs that do not leak or schools that do not close because outdated boilers break down.鈥�

Taken together, the Detroit spending decisions paint a picture of both the promise and the pitfalls of schools鈥� handling of stimulus money. And they serve as a sobering reminder of what researchers have emphasized for over a year: relief cash alone likely will not be enough to offset the damage wrought by the pandemic.

Nearly a year behind 

The scale of recovery efforts in Detroit and elsewhere falls short of the magnitude of learning losses, worries Harvard University education professor Thomas Kane, who researches COVID鈥檚 impact on education.

Comparing 2019 test scores to those in 2022, he calculates that students in Detroit fell nearly a year behind where they were previously. But he estimates the district鈥檚 key interventions 鈥� summer school for roughly 9,000 students and high-impact tutoring for about the same number 鈥� are only enough to spur about a fifth of the needed gains to get youth back on track.

鈥淭his is common in districts around the country,鈥� the education economist said. 鈥淭hey can list the interventions that they’re fielding 鈥� but they’re not doing the math on the effect sizes that they should be expecting from those things.鈥�

He suggests a quick sanity check: If students are a year back in their learning, catching them up will cost, at minimum, a district鈥檚 typical yearly operating budget. In Detroit, that would mean devoting roughly two-thirds of all relief dollars to academic recovery 鈥� a level the district is far from approaching.

District spokesperson Chrystal Wilson pointed out that the district is continuing to scale up small-group and one-on-one literacy and math help for struggling students. COVID money helped expand the effort initially, but now it鈥檚 built into the district budget so the support doesn’t disappear when relief funds dry up, the superintendent said. 

As a result, a higher share of Detroit鈥檚 lowest-scoring students are on track to make a year鈥檚 worth of growth in reading and math this year than pre-pandemic, Wilson said.

Stacey Young is a Detroit mother of six, including three youngsters at Davison Elementary-Middle School. Last year, the school advertised tutoring and all three children attended, but the program enrolled more than a dozen students per teacher, she said, and her kids鈥� grades, which had suffered on the heels of virtual learning, did not improve. This year, her youngest son continues to struggle in math.

鈥淥n his report card, they said, 鈥榊ou need to seek some support,鈥欌�� Young said. But the school had 鈥渘othing to offer鈥� in terms of additional learning options, she said.

Superintendent Vitti recognizes the problem, but explained hiring staff for afterschool programming has posed a challenge.

鈥淥ur teachers are burnt out after the school day,鈥� he said.

The students who remain the furthest behind in their learning also tend to be the ones who have had continued attendance challenges, he added, meaning the learning recovery efforts laid out by the district often miss the students who need them most.

鈥淭he issue here is not funding. The issues here are student access, quality human capital and the ability to scale human capital,鈥� Vitti said.

Bernita Bradley, a parent advocate in Detroit with the National Parents Union, is frustrated that the district has also cut back on summer enrichment programs. After opening summer learning to all interested students in 2022, the school system will offer programming this summer.

鈥淭here鈥檚 so much that鈥檚 needed for our children to catch up,鈥� Bradley said. 鈥淭his is the time for families to be getting more support 鈥� as opposed to canceling something.鈥�

Fixing neglected facilities

It鈥檚 a delicate balance between shorter- and longer-term stimulus investments, because Detroiters 鈥� Young and Bradley included 鈥� acknowledge campuses across the city are sorely in need of repairs. The scale of efforts like tutoring or summer school are constrained in part because upgrades to buildings represent the single-biggest line item in Detroit鈥檚 COVID relief spending plan.

Capital improvements have long been on hold in the district because for most of the last two decades a state-appointed emergency manager controlled its purse, making budget cuts to close a longstanding deficit, explained Sarah Reckhow, associate professor at Michigan State University.

鈥淎n easy way to cut was simply to not spend money maintaining buildings,鈥� she said.

It created a backlog of roughly a in needed upgrades to fix issues like leaky roofs and moldy buildings, Vitti told NBC in 2019. Michigan is among the bottom five states nationwide for equitable school funding, according to a from The Education Trust-Midwest, meaning the challenged district would have had to increase taxes on Detroiters to make facilities upgrades.

When the $1.3 billion COVID windfall hit, the district carved off $700 million to finally address conditions that many deemed shameful.

It鈥檚 a tactic common across high-poverty districts, which are more likely to have unmet infrastructure needs. School systems serving mostly low-income students have been far more likely than affluent districts to spend emergency relief dollars on facilities or transportation, a February found 鈥� meaning less cash leftover for academic support.

But from a fiscal perspective, it鈥檚 a prudent choice, said Elizabeth Moje, professor of education at the University of Michigan. Detroit鈥檚 schools need 鈥渕assive renovations,鈥� she said, and because the expenses don鈥檛 recur, the investment won鈥檛 contribute to future budgetary issues when federal funds dry up.

Still, doing so requires creative accounting as the construction projects will extend years beyond the deadline for spending relief money, said Phyllis Jordan, associate director of Georgetown University鈥檚 FutureEd think tank. Detroit is using COVID stimulus money to cover $700 million worth of expenses it typically pays for with its general fund, leaving the saved cash in its reserves with no spending deadline. The size of its general fund has swollen over 500% since stimulus funds began flowing and will be drawn down over the next five years, the district said.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of that budget jiu-jitsu going on,鈥� Jordan said.

Some 21 states, including Michigan, place no limit on the amount of money districts can keep in their reserves, allowing them to stockpile extra funds past the federal deadline so long as they first substitute COVID money for allowable expenses typically paid out of their general fund. 

Meanwhile, a recently announced round of layoffs in Detroit was an even more bitter pill knowing so much cash is waiting unspent, educators said.

Daniella Borum is a college transition advisor at the Detroit School of Arts who was told in early April that her position, which she鈥檚 held since 2019, would be terminated. Now she wonders who will help the high schoolers on her campus through the stressors not only of preparing for higher education, but of navigating daily life.

鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 have to be Ms. Borum here as a college advisor, but the kids need [someone],鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey need support services, period.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Re-engaging students

A key component of COVID catch-up, in Detroit and nationwide, has been luring students back to classrooms. Student attendance took a major hit in the pandemic鈥檚 wake and chronic absenteeism, which researchers typically define as missing at least 10% of school days, reached unprecedented levels across the country鈥檚 largest districts 鈥� 69% last year in Detroit.

The district deployed staff to knock on the doors of families whose children were absent, seeing if there were ways they could help get those students to class.

鈥淔amilies wanted their children coming back,鈥� said Gwendolyn Jachim, a Detroit elementary school teacher who signed up to knock on doors in the summer of 2021. Still the conversations were difficult, and many parents remained unconvinced. She recalls virus-wary parents who, after the nearby Flint, Michigan, water crisis left , said they didn鈥檛 trust the government on public health matters.

For its youngest students, the district also ran summer boot camps to help children prepare for the transition into kindergarten. Detroit educator Kristy Kitchen co-led a cohort of a dozen youngsters in six weeks of programming, including weekly field trips. While the program鈥檚 past iterations had sometimes required teachers to purchase supplies themselves, educators last summer were flush with markers, science experiments and backpacks for students, she said.

鈥淚t was a very good opportunity for the kids,鈥� Kitchen said. 鈥淭hey’ve had kindergarten boot camp prior to that year, but they didn’t have all those resources that we had.鈥�

The two campaigns, door knocking and kindergarten boot camp, together amounted to roughly $1.8 million, according to figures provided by the district 鈥� less than 1% of its total stimulus allotment.

This year鈥檚 chronic absenteeism rates have dipped slightly to 60%, which the district attributes to its efforts. Still, 6 in 10 youth are missing class at a level that researchers say puts their education in peril. 

Using stimulus funds, the district also invested in several fan-favorite activities aimed at boosting morale and engagement. The city paid thousands to vendors like Chuck E. Cheese, Top Golf, Video Game Mobile, Dave & Buster鈥檚 and Zap Zone Extreme, according to spending records obtained by 社区黑料 through a Freedom of Information request. Some $47,000 went to field trips to Blake鈥檚 Orchard & Cider Mill, which Detroit Federation of Teachers President Lakia Wilson said is an annual tradition.

鈥淭hese are city kids, so it鈥檚 good that they get to go out 鈥� picking their own apples, seeing pumpkins grow in a patch,鈥� Wilson said. 鈥淵ou can’t live in Michigan and not go to the apple orchard.鈥�

Contracts come under scrutiny

In a district with a past history of , Detroit鈥檚 emergency relief spending has not been without its share of expenses some saw as questionable.

For its tutoring contract worth over $3 million, the district chose a vendor led by Superintendent Vitti鈥檚 wife, Rachel Vitti, ex-director of the literacy nonprofit . Leaders disclosed the relationship when they discussed the contract in 2021 and said the provider was chosen because of its strong track record. Still, amid pushback, Rachel Vitti last summer from her role leading the nonprofit.

And the district鈥檚 $68 million COVID testing contract received scrutiny for a price tag twice as high as the nearby University of Michigan鈥檚, which used the same provider and served a comparable number of students.

The contracts 鈥渃annot be compared apples to apples,鈥� Rebecca Throop, a spokesperson for testing provider LynxDX Inc., said in an email. Detroit schools requested a higher number of tests and the university hired staff independently to assist collecting samples, she said.

LynxDX Inc. is now a to the Detroit Public Schools Community District, listed as providing support at the $20,000 to $99,999 level.

鈥淎s a company, we recognize the importance of giving back to the communities we serve and where our employees live,鈥� Throop said.

But zooming out beyond individual contracts, Reckhow, at Michigan State, sees the Detroit school district鈥檚 position as inherently difficult. The $1.3 billion is a lot of money, she acknowledges, but doesn鈥檛 think the time-limited boost can erase all the problems of the last decades.

鈥淭here鈥檚 the assumption that you get a one-time infusion of money and you recover,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut when you鈥檙e talking about a district where the needs are as high (as Detroit鈥檚) and where the pre-existing issues of inequality were already enormously pronounced, the timeframe of these relief dollars is just not really up to the task.鈥�

The average increase was 10.8% from 2020-21 to 2021-22 and 16.5% from 2020-21 to 2022-23, according to a late August of 118 large school system budgets published by Burbio, which has tracked K-12 policy through the pandemic.

Nearly 1 in 5 district budgets within that group had grown by more than 25% since 2021.

In many cases, those investments translate to direct benefits for students, said Chad Aldeman, policy director of the Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University. School systems have invested in tutoring programs and summer learning experiences to catch students up after many experienced significant delays in their learning due to COVID disruptions such as virtual learning and quarantines. Other districts have used the cash to make long-needed infrastructure improvements such as upgrading ventilation with or .

But with American Rescue Plan money set to expire in 2024, and with U.S. student enrollment projected to drop by due to slowed birth rates nationwide, the Georgetown K-12 finance expert warns that schools for a period of 鈥渂loodletting鈥� by 2024-25 when budgets must adjust back down.

鈥淵ou don鈥檛 have to look too far out to see pain coming,鈥� Aldeman said. 鈥淭hat could look like flat or stagnant salaries, that can look like layoffs, that could look like closing schools. The federal money has deferred some of those tough choices or even made it so people can ignore them for a little bit. But they will come and it’s just a matter of when and how hard they hit.鈥�

In Los Angeles, where enrollment has been , the school system released projections for total spending to drop nearly 20% from 2022-23 to 2024-25 鈥� from roughly $11 billion to about $9 billion. Much of the difference represents the ending of stimulus funds.

L.A. Superintendent Alberto Carvalho has described that impending fiscal cliff, conjoined with enrollment drops, as a quickly approaching 鈥�Armageddon.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Most school leaders have worked to avoid a 2024-25 economic catastrophe in their stimulus spending, said Daniel Domenech, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators.

鈥淢any superintendents have been careful, anticipating the fiscal cliff, not to use the dollars in ways that would create a problem for them down the line. For example, teacher salaries or the hiring of significant staff that then will have to be let go.鈥�

For 20 years, Domenech worked as school superintendent in Long Island, New York over a period when the region lost 40% of its students.

鈥淔or all those years, I never built a school,鈥� he said. 鈥淎ll I did was close schools.鈥�

That鈥檚 a difficult task, the school leader acknowledged, because while families understand in the abstract the district must consolidate to prevent taxes from soaring, they usually want to see other schools close rather than their own. But cutting through the noise, school leaders can also understand the process of what Domenech calls 鈥渞ight-sizing鈥� schools as an opportunity to 鈥渂alance鈥� student populations, he said, desegregating schools racially and socioeconomically.

Aldeman advises superintendents looking at enrollment declines not to kick the consolidation can down the road. Though school closings will inevitably cause disruptions, he said, policymakers can ease the pain with investments like more guidance counselors or improved transportation.

鈥淣ow would be a good time to start thinking about [consolidating],鈥� Alderman said. 鈥淚f we delay it, then the money will run out.鈥�

When COVID struck in 2020, the then-eighth grader鈥檚 Upper Valley, New Hampshire middle school campus shut down for several weeks to pivot to virtual learning, like most others across the country. Paige knew then that her daughter Amy 鈥� whose name has been changed in this piece for the student鈥檚 privacy 鈥� was at risk of falling behind even further. Once online school started, live instruction was only on a 鈥減art-time basis,鈥� Paige said.

鈥淭here was lost learning time,鈥� she said. 鈥淪ometimes there weren’t teachers because the teachers were sick.鈥�

Although Paige didn鈥檛 know it yet, Amy had dyslexia. For years, the now-17-year-old鈥檚 condition went undiagnosed. Meanwhile, it complicated the teen鈥檚 part-time job at a clothing store, because she struggled to type in email addresses at the cash register.

In a last-ditch effort to help her daughter, Paige connected with a tutor specializing in phonics-based literacy, who she now works with via a relatively new state program. After beginning tutoring, Amy showed quick improvement on spelling and reading tests administered by her high school, Paige said. Amy鈥檚 literacy coach recognized signs of dyslexia and pointed the family toward screening for the disability, which led to her diagnosis and extra services at school.

鈥淚鈥檝e seen progress,鈥� Paige said. 鈥淭he way [her tutor] works with her is not a way 鈥� a teacher would have the time to work with her in a classroom situation.鈥�

That sort of individualized, intensive coaching is a key solution the Granite State has bet on to help students like Amy get back on track after the pandemic. The state is entering its second year offering the scholarship, which uses a digital wallet to provide $1,000 for private tutoring to any young person whose education was negatively impacted by the pandemic. The scholarship is available to all students, regardless of need, and can be applied toward tutoring from state-approved educators.

鈥淲hen I explain the program to [parents], they become very excited, like, 鈥極h, this is great,鈥欌�� New Hampshire Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut said. 鈥淚n some cases, they’re almost like, 鈥業t鈥檚 too good to be true. How can this possibly be?鈥欌��

But families in New Hampshire have tapped into less than a third of the available scholarship funds. So far this academic year, 724 young people have received scholarships 鈥� accounting for just $724,000 out of a $2.5 million total funded by federal COVID relief cash. Upon inception, the state granted scholarship eligibility only to students from low-income families, but with signups lagging and substantial funds remaining, they made access universal.

State testing in 2022 revealed that more than half of New Hampshire students were not proficient in math and over 40% were behind in English, though scores have rebounded slightly since 2021, according to data provided by the state. Research shows sustained individual or small-group tutoring can be one of the best ways to help children catch up.

鈥淥ne student might be struggling with functions. Another is struggling with algebraic equations,鈥� Edelblut said. 鈥淭hose are the kinds of things that in a one-on-one tutoring session with a teacher that can be drawn out, they can be addressed, they can be targeted, and we can fill in those gaps.鈥�

Soon after the Paige family began tutoring, they saw a post on social media about the YES! grant and realized they qualified. Though they鈥檙e still working out the logistics of the digital wallet, the funds will cover more than two months of intensive lessons, which will be 鈥渄efinitely helpful, without a doubt,鈥� Paige said.

The program has also served its purpose for student Sylas Marrotte. The scholarship gave him access to a trained special education teacher for twice-a-week math and reading tutoring, grandmother Sherry Newman said.

鈥淢y grandson, who already had learning disabilities, was falling way behind [during COVID],鈥� Newman wrote in an email to 社区黑料. 鈥淭he tutor was very flexible and supportive.鈥�

The program could help to 鈥渄emocratize鈥� the private tutoring market, which often is available only to wealthier families, said Matthew Kraft, associate professor of education at Brown University. 

But in his eyes, the slow uptake among low-income families is a damning indicator, signaling either poor advertising to the neediest parents or failure to alleviate other barriers such as transportation costs. 

It鈥檚 possible many families 鈥渏ust never learned about the program or couldn’t figure out how to sign up or didn’t think that they could make it work,鈥� Kraft said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think 鈥� they鈥檝e met the demand in that group of students.鈥�

Nationwide, parental interest in learning recovery options has been lower than policymakers would have hoped, according to recent from the Brookings Institute. Despite significant gaps in learning for millions of students across the country, less than a third of families said they wanted their kids to participate in tutoring and less than a quarter said they were interested in district-run summer camps.

Even if all the New Hampshire tutoring funds get disbursed, Kraft observed, it will still only serve 2,500 learners 鈥� a drop in the bucket compared to the state鈥檚 over 185,000 students, including roughly 50,000 who are eligible for free- or reduced-price lunch, a proxy indicator for the number of students living in poverty.

The New Hampshire Department of Education does not 鈥渁t this time鈥� know the share of low-income students who have taken advantage of the tutoring scholarship money compared to wealthier youth, Edelblut said. Students could opt for virtual sessions in cases where transportation presented a barrier, he noted.

The YES! scholarship is one of three state-funded tutoring options available to New Hampshire families. The state announced this month that it had that will give more than 100,000 students access to the site鈥檚 24/7 digital tutoring services. Since early in the pandemic, the state has also partnered with Khan Academy founder Sal Khan鈥檚 initiative, providing the state鈥檚 students with free access to the site鈥檚 learning resources. That site has seen about 4,300 New Hampshire visitors, said Kimberly Houghton, a spokesperson for the state鈥檚 Department of Education, although she did not have figures on how many tutoring sessions students have actually participated in.

Among the 74 individuals and organizations registered by the state as , including specialists in math, literacy, speech and executive functioning, a handful said over email that none or just one student had reached out for tutoring sessions.

But Krista Martin, who runs the Sylvan Learning centers in Portsmouth and Salem, has worked with six students who have used YES! scholarship money to pay for sessions. Two of those families were already paying for Sylvan tutoring services before the grant and now use the funds to offset costs, but the other four enrolled once they received the scholarship, Martin said. 

For the most part, families come in hopes that the sessions will help their kids recover from the pandemic, Martin wrote in an email.

鈥溾�嬧�婩or many of our students, the breakdowns started during the COVID years,鈥� Martin said. 鈥淪ince the pandemic, we have heard from many families that they want their children to enjoy school again and show interest in what they are learning like they did before COVID.鈥�

For the Paige family, Amy鈥檚 struggles began earlier, but YES! has helped 鈥� at least a little 鈥� along the way. On an August evening in northern New Hampshire, tutor Lynne Howard sat at her dining table and helped the teen break down words into their individual sound components. Howard was a longtime reading specialist in the local schools and now runs a tutoring company called Summit Literacy.

鈥淪ay hush,鈥� Howard said.

鈥淗ush,鈥� Amy responded.

鈥淣ow say hush but change 鈥榮hh鈥� to 鈥榤m,鈥� 鈥� Howard added on.

鈥淗um,鈥� Amy answered.

Word by word, sound by sound, Howard and Amy made out ways to fill the student鈥檚 learning gaps. They identified prefixes, suffixes, root words, closed and open vowels 鈥� steadily making progress to improve her spelling. And their time together ended with praise that, for many years before tutoring, Paige was concerned she鈥檇 never hear about her daughter鈥檚 literacy.

鈥淎nd that鈥檚 it, you worked hard today,鈥� Howard said at the end of an hour. 鈥淓xcellent job.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 actually a little surreal鈥� seeing the rich slate of offerings, said Brodrick Clarke, vice president of the .听

He鈥檚 worked at summer learning organizations for over a quarter century, making what used to be a difficult case to school administrators: That districts should offer camp-style July programs to all students rather than enrolling only those who flunked classes during the academic year.

Suddenly, his job has become much easier. 

A growing consensus has elevated summer learning programs to top priority after three consecutive school years disrupted by the pandemic. Several studies, including a 2018 , show camps blending fun and academics give students a leg up in key subject areas. So with millions of students nationwide lagging behind grade level in math and reading, and with schools sitting on billions of dollars in COVID relief cash, summer learning programs have become a go-to solution. 

So far, schools nationwide have poured $3.1 billion in American Rescue Plan dollars into summer and afterschool initiatives, according to an from Georgetown University鈥檚 FutureEd think tank. Summer learning has emerged as districts鈥� 鈥渘umber one priority鈥� for academic recovery spending, said Phyllis Jordan, the organization鈥檚 associate director.

鈥淲e’re actually investing in programs that we know work and have had results. We just get to do them at a much larger scale because there’s finally funding for it,鈥� U.S. Deputy Education Secretary Cindy Marten told 社区黑料. 

鈥淚f you put enriching, engaging experiences together for kids and give them a chance to be together, they can learn.鈥�

However, the picture remains murky on just how much progress states, districts and community organizations have actually made toward catching up students before the school year re-starts.

鈥淲e do not have data on the number of summer programs this year compared to years past,鈥� said Jen Rinehart, senior vice president of strategy and programs at the Afterschool Alliance. 鈥淪imilarly, we do not have data on the number of students enrolled this year.鈥�

Marten acknowledged she was not aware of any federal effort to track how many youth are engaging in summer learning programs this year and did not clarify when the results of these programs will come into focus.

To fill the gap, 社区黑料 obtained exclusive datasets from , a data service that tracks school policy, and the research-based auditing publicly shared information about districts鈥� summer offerings. Burbio鈥檚 figures include the 200 largest U.S. school systems and CRPE鈥檚 cover 100 major metropolitan districts, many of which overlap. Though there are roughly 13,800 districts in the country, the 200 largest account for over a quarter of the nation鈥檚 students.

The analysis comes after the Department of Education announced the Engage Every Student Initiative in July to expand access to summer and afterschool offerings. Accompanying the launch, First Lady Jill Biden and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona toured programs in Connecticut, Michigan and Georgia.

The Burbio and CRPE numbers reveal that the vast majority of school systems did indeed provide opportunities for students to catch up on learning and most offered their summer programs at no cost to families. Specifically:

• 93% of districts, according to Burbio, and 87%, according to CRPE, offered summer learning programs this year

• 79% of school systems that had programs provided them at no cost to families

• The average program length was 154 hours, just under four weeks and roughly equivalent to 12% of the academic school year. However, some offerings only covered about 30 hours, while others made up nearly 350 total hours

Additionally, most districts offered programs that went beyond rote academics 鈥� including activities such as theater, debate and robotics 鈥� and about 2 in 5 worked with community organizations to flesh out their camps. Nearly all programs included breakfast, lunch or both:

• Of the districts that offered summer learning opportunities, at least 83% included credit recovery options, 80% mixed academics with enrichment activities such as sports, arts or social-emotional learning, 48% offered programs for students with learning disabilities and 39% had dedicated options for English learners

• 96% of programs provided meals to children and 74% offered free transportation

• At least 39% of districts partnered with community organizations on summer offerings

The data align with recent figures reported by the , which surveyed a representative sample of 859 public schools in June. The figures are not an apples-to-apples comparison with the Burbio and CRPE data because they focus on individual schools rather than districts, but also point to extensive programming nationwide. NCES found:

• Three-quarters of schools offered learning and enrichment programs this summer

• School leaders estimated that 18-20% of their students enrolled, compared to 13-16% during a typical year

• 49% of education leaders said they partnered with an outside organization, 14% offered internship programs and 13% offered summer jobs or work-based learning programs

鈥淲hen we talk about academic recovery 鈥� you can’t do it just within the regular school day,鈥� said Daniel Domenech, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators. 鈥淵ou need to make sure acceleration is extra time. The summer has become that time.鈥�

A question of equity

Maritza Guridy, who has five children in Philadelphia public schools and also works as deputy director of parent voice with the , said some families in her network were able to find programs that met their needs while others were not.

鈥淔or those that [registered] early, they were able to get in there. For those that waited, it’s unfortunate,鈥� she told 社区黑料.

She enrolled her kids in a local chapter of the nationally acclaimed program and also for a shorter stint at an organization called . Among her considerations were aspects like program cost, learning opportunities and emotional supports, but also factors like fun, clear communication from leadership and a building with central air.

In addition to academics, her children have practiced yoga and went for twice-a-week swim lessons at the local YMCA. One day, they came home with a gleeful announcement: 鈥淢ommy, I jumped into the deep side of the pool today 鈥� and I wasn鈥檛 scared!鈥�

It thrilled Guridy, but she knew other families have missed out on similar joys because of barriers such as lack of transportation or no translated information about the opportunity. Guridy wants officials who plan programs to consider accessibility.

鈥淚s [messaging] being offered in different languages?,鈥� she prompts them. 鈥淗ow are parents supposed to enroll their children if they don’t even understand the application?鈥�

It鈥檚 an equity issue, said Clarke, the National Summer Learning Association VP.  Youth who don鈥檛 have access to summer programs can see academic gains evaporate between June and September, a well-documented concept known as 鈥�summer slide.鈥� Now the issue is particularly pressing, because students living in poverty have the starkest pandemic learning deficits.

鈥淔amilies with access and privilege go into their bank accounts and provide great opportunities for their kids during the summertime,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he 26 million young people that are on free and reduced lunch 鈥� don’t have that luxury to do so. But they certainly need, want and deserve to have those opportunities.鈥�

鈥楨xplosion鈥� or 鈥榓fterthought?鈥�

With the stakes at an all-time high as schools reel from the pandemic鈥檚 impacts, experts have mixed views on whether summer offerings have actually scaled up this year.

鈥淲e鈥檙e seeing an explosion of programs,鈥� said Ron Ottinger, executive director of , an organization connected to a network of thousands of providers across the country.

Meanwhile, Christine Pitts, who has done her own summer learning analysis as CRPE鈥檚 director of impact and communications, has a more pessimistic view.

In 2022, 鈥淸districts] were offering less than they were last year. So it’s almost like summer slipped back into that characterization of being an afterthought again,鈥� she told 社区黑料.

Her team found that school systems provided fewer offerings for English learners and fewer programs with social-emotional supports this summer compared to last.

鈥淚t’s hard to speculate at a national level, why that might have dropped off,鈥� said Marten, the deputy secretary. Some districts may have decided their 2021 summer programs had done enough to catch learners up and that they could scale back this year, she said. However, if leaders wanted to maintain programs but were facing a lack of funds, she encouraged them to tap resources from the new initiative.

Contrasting the data Pitts saw, Nicholas Munyan-Penney spoke to officials in over 30 states about their summer learning programs while researching for a report with . The narrative he heard was of continued growth.

鈥淎necdotally, they’ve said that there’s definitely been an increase in enrollment this summer,鈥� the researcher told 社区黑料.

Rinehart also cites data that indicate an upward trend. In the spring of 2022, her organization and 90% said they were planning to offer summer programs, compared to 79% at the same time a year earlier. Respondents also indicated they expected upticks in enrollment, with an increased share expressing concern they wouldn鈥檛 be able to meet families鈥� demand for programs.

In one of the only direct comparisons between this year and last, the recently released NCES data found no change between 2021 and 2022, with the share of schools saying they offered summer learning programs holding steady at 75%.

鈥楬ow are we going to fill the staff?鈥�

One factor often hindering summer learning expansion has been a staff, only the latest symptom of wider shortages that have affected K-12 schools for much of the past year.

鈥淥fficials are finding it very hard to find teachers,鈥� said Domenech. 鈥淚n many cases, the problem has been that where the district has large numbers of kids sign up for the summer programs, they wind up wanting to cut back because they just don’t have the staff to cover it.鈥�

In Madison, Wisconsin, for example, administrators had to from their summer offerings, about 1 in 6 students who had signed up, because of 鈥渦nanticipated staffing challenges.鈥�

Gia Maxwell works as a site director at summer learning provider . Throughout the spring, she joined monthly calls with leaders from across the Breakthrough network, which operates in 26 cities. Her colleagues were continually worried about finding enough instructors.

鈥淓veryone was talking about, 鈥楬ow are we going to fill the staff? How are we going to fill the staff,鈥欌�� she told 社区黑料.

Her Miami program usually finds all 130 youth and 30 adult staff for its summer teaching corps by May, she said. But this year, it took until halfway through teacher training in mid-June to recruit everyone, and they had to hire more teenage candidates than usual. 

The Providence, Rhode Island Breakthrough location was forced to this summer altogether, explaining 鈥渨e have struggled to recruit students and teachers this year.鈥�

To combat shortages, Arkansas brought in tutors from its to staff summer programs, said Munyan-Penney. In West Virginia, program leaders pulled from teacher training programs in the state to fill out their summer learning staff ranks. And Arizona boosted teachers鈥� wages 20% for the summer months to entice instructors.

They鈥檙e among the states 鈥溾�嬧�媡hinking about the staffing issue and being proactive about it,鈥� said the Education Reform Now researcher.

鈥楳ath, Reading and a Little Stampeding鈥�

Several states shared provisional data with 社区黑料 on their summer offerings, though many said they won鈥檛 have finalized enrollment or academic impact numbers for months.  

In Arizona, Gov. Doug Ducey launched the which state leaders estimate has served about 100,000 campers 鈥� 10% of the state鈥檚 1 million students 鈥� across 680 sites, including at least one in every county. 

Arizona officials went to great lengths to spread the word about the program. The state ran a including ads on television, radio, social media and in magazines, and direct texts to parents in both English and Spanish informing them of the free programs.

鈥淲e targeted lower-income families, as the goal of free summer camp was to see the highest number of campers from families that may not have been able to afford an adventure-style summer camp in prior years,鈥� Kaitlin Harrier, the governor鈥檚 senior policy advisor, wrote in an email to 社区黑料. 

The governor鈥檚 office opted for a 鈥渟ummer camp鈥� approach rather than a 鈥渟ummer school鈥� model, describing the opportunities as 鈥淢ath, Reading, and a Little Stampeding,鈥� said Harrier.

鈥淚t is no secret that when kids are having fun, it sets up a great foundation for learning,鈥� she added.

In Connecticut, the state also rolled out a grant program to help providers beef up their summer offerings and defray program costs for low-income youth. The state disbursed roughly $8 million in grants last summer and increased that sum to $12 million for 2022, said Eric Scoville, communications director for the State Department of Education.

Enrollment across a sample of 121 locations nearly doubled, from 17,000 to 32,000, between 2020 and 2021, according to an spearheaded by University of Connecticut researchers. However, it鈥檚 too early to tell how many students the state reached this summer, said Scoville.

In North Carolina, all 115 school districts offered one or more summer learning programs this year funded by COVID relief money, each attended by 30 to 200 students, said Todd Silberman, a public information officer at the state鈥檚 Department of Public Instruction. The enrollment figures will not be finalized for several weeks, he said, but he expects the total will be lower than 2021, when the state legislature required math, science, English and enrichment summer learning programs.

At the city level, Baltimore City Public Schools has scaled up its programming sharply thanks to COVID relief dollars. The maximum number of youth the 77,800-student district had served between June and August previous to the pandemic had been 9,000, said Ronda Welsh, the district鈥檚 extended learning coordinator. But in 2021, they reached 15,000 and have served at least that many again in 2022.

鈥淥ur goal was to provide as many opportunities as we could for students in Baltimore,鈥� Welsh told 社区黑料.

Tulsa, for its part, has also cultivated a thriving summer learning culture, part of a wider 鈥淐ity of Learning鈥� initiative that has been in the works for several years. That infrastructure has made the district into a poster child for community partnership, with over 40 youth-serving organizations contributing to the district鈥檚 programming this summer 鈥� including clubs for debating, biking and rowing.

鈥淭he summer is the time that kids get to experience those things they otherwise would not have the opportunity to do, especially during the school year,鈥� said Jackie DuPont, executive director of the , which orchestrates the connections between the nonprofits and the district.

However, the district has not been able to maintain its high summer learning enrollment. Last summer, about a third of its 33,000 students participated in summer learning 鈥� an unusually large share. This year, a total of 7,000 youth engaged in the school system鈥檚 initiative, Director of Expanded Learning Jessica Goodman estimated. 

鈥溾�嬧�婰ast summer was really an immediate response to not having kids in our school buildings 鈥� so some families just needed that time more than they did this summer,鈥� she told 社区黑料.

Despite enrollment fluctuations, Marten believes the proliferation of new summer learning programs nationwide will outlast the influx of federal funding.

鈥淐ommunities will fall in love with these programs,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey will say, 鈥榃e鈥檙e never going to let this stop. We’re not just doing this because there was a pandemic. We’re doing this because this is what’s good for kids. Let’s keep doing it.鈥欌��

Last August, when Florida鈥檚 Hillsborough County Public Schools began upgrading air filters in their K-12 buildings, the event was so significant that to document one of the first installations, at a Tampa elementary school.

When RAND Corp. researchers last spring with a list of 13 items that would make them feel safe about in-person schooling this fall, parents鈥� top priority wasn鈥檛 teacher or student vaccines, social distancing or regular COVID testing.

It was ventilation.

Perhaps that鈥檚 because COVID-19 has made our most basic act 鈥� breathing 鈥� newsworthy.

But therein lies the problem: In 2021, with an airborne virus still infecting Americans at a rate of , the heating and cooling systems in many U.S. public schools are nothing short of awful. Whether billions in new federal aid will be enough to help school districts upgrade an aging system anytime soon remains an open question.

While data on the scope of the problem are scarce, what little there are suggest that schools are looking at billions of dollars in deferred maintenance. A few examples:

• In Worcester, Mass., the district last summer said it would spend to upgrade heating and cooling systems in its 44 schools, some of which date back to the 1800s. Nearly half of its schools were built before 1940;
• In Denver, the school board spending $4.9 million to upgrade school heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems in more than 150 buildings after former Superintendent Susana Cordova said parents had been asking her specifically about HVAC upgrades.

Like many issues, this one hits low-income students hardest.

In a of school facilities by the National Center for Education Statistics and Westat, researchers found that schools serving the largest percentage of low-income students also had the largest percentage of air ventilation/filtration systems rated 鈥渇air or poor鈥� in permanent buildings.

The study found that in schools with the highest concentration of low-income students, 33 percent had such troubled systems. In schools with the lowest concentration, it was 27 percent.

In the RAND survey, nearly three in four parents put school air quality at the top of their school wishlist. Even among a subgroup of parents who were unsure whether they鈥檇 even send their kids back to school, ventilation came in as the most important safety indicator.

The dilemma is resonating beyond parents: Last fall, the non-profit Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), with the New York State Labor Department on behalf of 44 employees in nine public school campuses across New York City, saying most school buildings were improperly ventilated. It also said the city鈥檚 鈥渕inimalistic鈥� ventilation standards don鈥檛 prevent the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19. The group wants inspectors to determine whether schools are ventilated and filtrated to adequately protect teachers, students, and staff.

Kyla Bennett, the group鈥檚 New England director, said the conditions in these schools were 鈥減retty horrifying.鈥�

鈥淭he inspections that they had done, most of the schools did not have windows that opened (in) the classrooms. They didn鈥檛 have the correct supply ventilation or exhaust ventilation in the rooms. I mean, some of them literally had zero ventilation.鈥�

She understands why windows in some cases don鈥檛 open. 鈥淭here鈥檚 noise out there. There鈥檚 pollution. …There’s danger, especially for small children, if the windows open wide enough. But the bottom line is that in order to make the schools safe for not just the students, but for the staff and the teachers, we need to improve the ventilation in the schools.鈥�

Nathaniel Styer, a city schools spokesperson, said the district鈥檚 public schools 鈥渨ere some of the safest places to be during this pandemic because of our focus on ventilation and safety. We ended the year with a .03 percent positivity rate, which never went above 1 percent and was consistently far below the city average. Our schools are safe and if any repairs need to be made to ventilation systems the impacted classrooms are closed until the problem is fixed.鈥�

Styer said the district only uses classrooms in which ventilation systems are working and operational, with the means to bring fresh air inside, circulate it, and ventilate the air outside. He also said every room was inspected multiple times by professional engineers and union inspectors.

The high costs of building repairs 鈥� as well as other priorities and the political gridlock gripping Washington, D.C. 鈥� likely mean that most families won鈥檛 get their school ventilation wishes granted by the time students return this fall.

Last December鈥檚 Covid-19 stimulus measure, as well as President 叠颈诲别苍鈥檚 proposed infrastructure legislation, could change conditions in schools. The stimulus includes $54.3 billion for states and school districts to shore up school facilities, including HVAC systems. But schools鈥� total price tag could be billions more, recent estimates suggest.

叠颈诲别苍鈥檚 could help as well. It proposes $50 billion in direct grants and another $50 billion leveraged through bonds to upgrade and build public schools. While its fate remains up in the air, a bipartisan group of congressional lawmakers last week of the proposal. A summary of the 鈥淩ebuilding America鈥檚 Infrastructure鈥� plan by the Problem Solvers Caucus endorses upgrading schools鈥� internet systems, but school ventilation.

Needed: $1 million 鈥� or more 鈥� per building

Much of what we know about school infrastructure these days comes from a 2020 study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, which and found that 54 percent needed to update or replace 鈥渕ultiple building systems鈥� including HVAC. An estimated one in three schools needed to update their systems, it found. And 41 percent of districts needed to update or replace HVAC systems in at least half of their schools, totaling about 36,000 nationwide.

The price tag for upgrading these systems: about $1 million per building. If half of the 36,000 buildings get upgrades and the rest get entirely new HVAC systems, it could cost schools about $72 billion, the non-profit Learning Policy Institute .

Among educators themselves, the problem is hardly hidden 鈥� actually, most of them would agree with RAND鈥檚 findings, calling ventilation an urgent problem. When the American Society of Civil Engineers earlier this year graded infrastructure systems nationwide, ventilation upgrades topped schools鈥� most pressing concerns. More than half of districts 鈥� 53 percent 鈥� reported that they need to update or replace multiple building systems, including HVAC. The report estimated that schools need a in repairs. Taxpayers are currently investing only $490 billion, the group said, leaving a $380 billion shortfall.

While the engineers鈥� group gave the nation鈥檚 overall infrastructure a , it was even tougher on our public schools, handing them a .

It noted that in the decade between fiscal years 2008 and 2017, state capital funding for schools fell 31 percent, the equivalent of a $20 billion cut. In that period, 38 states cut school capital spending as a share of the state economy.

One of the report鈥檚 authors, California civil engineer Dan Cronquist, said in an interview that HVAC upgrades and replacements topped all other school officials鈥� concerns, including roofing, lighting, safety, plumbing, and even asbestos, lead, and mold remediation.

Air quality, he said, is 鈥渁 big issue,鈥� but he acknowledged that educators have a lot on their plates. 鈥淪chool buildings are not as a high-priority in some districts as other expenses.鈥�

When GAO researchers visited school districts in six states last year, they found that security 鈥渉ad become a top priority,鈥� often taking precedence over spending on building systems such as HVAC. It also found that in about half of districts nationwide, funding for school facilities came primarily from local sources such as property taxes.

In most cases, schools can鈥檛 rely on federal funding for ongoing, needed repairs, unless they鈥檙e located on military bases, receive federal Impact Aid, or are charter schools.

Upgrades don鈥檛 necessarily mean better air quality

suggest that schools use 鈥渕ultiple mitigation strategies鈥� to lower the risk of exposure, such as improving building ventilation, as well as masks and distancing. While most buildings won鈥檛 actually require new ventilation systems, CDC says, upgrades or improvements 鈥渃an increase the delivery of clean air and dilute potential contaminants.鈥� In buildings that are already up to code, it suggests using window fans, improving filtration, and using portable high-efficiency particulate air filtration systems, among other measures.

Even if they get upgrades, schools may not automatically enjoy better air quality if they don鈥檛 maintain and operate the systems properly.

In a study , before the pandemic hit, researchers from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California, Davis, visited 104 California classrooms that had recently been retrofitted with new HVAC units. About half had high CO2 concentrations, researchers found, and many were 鈥渦nder-ventilated,鈥� likely due to improperly selected equipment, poor maintenance, or other issues.

The researchers concluded that better oversight of HVAC installation, as well as periodic testing and CO2聽monitoring, would improve ventilation.

As for conditions in New York City schools, the PEER complaint is on hold after the state Public Employee Safety and Health Bureau said it didn鈥檛 have jurisdiction over COVID-19 cases, Bennett said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e looking at our options, but there鈥檚 no quick solution here.鈥�

She added, 鈥淭he bottom line is that this pandemic, this isn鈥檛 the end. This is something that鈥檚 going to be hanging over our heads 鈥� whether it鈥檚 COVID-19, that still hasn’t gone away, or whether it鈥檚 the next pandemic 鈥� we need to make sure that the ventilation in our schools is better than it is, because it鈥檚 not a safe working environment.鈥�