Federal COVID relief funds in jeopardy

PRESCOTT – The Prescott School Board unanimously passed a resolution Wednesday, June 16 calling on lawmakers to rework and pass a state budget bill that provides the funding for K-12 education necessary to qualify the state of Wisconsin to receive its share of federal COVID relief funds for K-12 education and properly fund Wisconsin’s public schools.

“If they (the Joint Finance Committee) do not change their current stance in financing for public education, the state of Wisconsin could lose $2.3 billion,” Superintendent Dr. Rick Spicuzza said. “These are dollars that have been promised as emergency relief for ESSER II, of which we would receive $141,000 and for ESSER III, another $600,000 to address the learning gaps, the learning needs as well as the recovery for our students.”

ESSER funds (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief), which are part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, provide money to help local schools respond to changes in student needs due to COVID-19.

In March 2021, Congress provided Wisconsin’s K-12 students and schools with the opportunity to receive $ 2.3 billion in pandemic relief to combat learning disruptions caused by COVID and help pay other pandemic-related expenses.

However, in order for Wisconsin to qualify to receive that funding, federal rules require that states maintain the average level of K-12 spending in the next budget cycle that they provided in previous state budgets to demonstrate “maintenance of effort.” According to the Department of Education, this is so states don’t reduce education support because of an influx of federal financial assistance; the additional funds are for extra supports and services due to COVID-19.

Wisconsin has money available in its treasury to provide the necessary funding for K-12 education to meet this federal requirement.

The Wisconsin Legislature’s JFC budget committee voted not to approve enough state funding for K-12 education to meet the federal requirement; the $128 million the Wisconsin Legislature’s budget-writing committee proposes to spend on K-12 education over the next two years is less than half of what the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau reports is necessary to secure the federal money.

The proposed level of state funding for K-12 education jeopardizes federal COVID relief funding that lawmakers and school boards are counting on to fund schools over the next two years, the resolution states; and the Wisconsin Legislature’s budgetwriting committee placed $350 million of state dollars into the state’s “budget stabilization fund” (rainy-day fund) to be available to fill future education funding gaps or any other purpose, thus providing no guarantee that money will be properly appropriated to K-12 schools.

The U.S. Department of Education has warned Wisconsin that placing $350 million into the state’s rainy-day fund won’t help Wisconsin qualify for $2.3 billion in federal stimulus funds for K-12 education; therefore, the Wisconsin Association of School Boards has been asking WASB members and lawmakers to support four state budget priorities — inflationary spending increases, significantly higher special education reimbursement, additional mental health categorical aid and steps to mitigate pandemic- driven enrollment drop.

If the Legislature reworks the proposed state K-12 funding plan and uses a portion of the $350 million directed to the rainyday fund to meet these priorities, this potential loss of massive amounts of federal funding for K-12 education in Wisconsin could be avoided, the resolution relates.

“My hopes is that we see this type of action from many districts,” Board Vice President Steve Sizemore said about passing the resolution.

“That’s part of our job, to advocate for finances for our district,” said board member Vicki Rudolph. “So we don’t have to make really tough decisions because money got left on the table.”