91制片

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
James Minichello
703-875-0723
703-774-6953 (cell)
jminichello@aasa.org

Alexandria, Va. 鈥� Nov. 20, 2020 鈥� Daniel A. Domenech, executive director of , issued the following statement in response to the U.S. Dept. of Education鈥檚 release of its CARES Act Education Fund Portal.

鈥淎s the nation鈥檚 public schools continue to lead their way through the enduring COVID-19 pandemic, we are disappointed to see the U.S. Dept. of Education鈥檚 CARES Act Education Fund Portal fall short of its potential and mischaracterize the situation. It oversimplifies the complex reality of school funding, where schools are simultaneously responsible for managing funds from multiple sources of funding, each subject to its own rules, all of which impact the rate of spending.

鈥淭his tool reflects a mere slice of the true process of local school district expenditures. While a small portion of the funding has actually been liquidated, the truer narrative is that a far larger portion of the dollars have been obligated. And THAT is the narrative that matters.

鈥淚t is misguiding to imply that schools are simply not spending the dollars, or to imply they are stockpiling cash. The reality is that the costs incurred鈥攁nd that will be accrued throughout the remainder of the 2020-21 school year鈥攚ill exceed not only the CARES funding already available to states and districts, but will likely also fully exhaust any additional funding made available, should Congress move a second COVID response relief package with funding dedicated to K-12 education.

鈥淔urther, any discussion about a delay in drawdown of CARES dollars must include the impact of the Secretary鈥檚 three-times court-defeated equitable services interpretation, which only served to unnecessarily complicate and delay fund availability. School superintendents operate at the nexus of ensuring the academic and physical wellbeing of their staff and students while also needing to balance their district budgets. This is a heavy task in normal times.

鈥淣ow, in 2020, with an unchecked pandemic and uncertainty whether CARES is the first or only source of federal support for schools, fiscal prudence at the local level should be encouraged and supported, not undermined or called into question.鈥�

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For specific questions, please contact Noelle Ellerson Ng, 91制片 associate executive director, advocacy and governance, at nellerson@aasa.org.

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, founded in 1865, is the professional organization for more than 13,000 educational leaders in the United States and throughout the world. 91制片鈥檚 mission is to support and develop effective school system leaders who are dedicated to equitable access for all students to the highest quality public education. For more information, visit .