This is the amount of the historic relief funds infused into the K-12 system during COVID-19, the last of which were spent in March. Education experts say it’s difficult to sum up how effective the massive influx was in helping schools and students recover.
Many state and local education leaders point to specific projects that tie the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds to improved academic performance, safer and healthier schools, student engagement, tighter community partnerships, and quicker student mental health and behavioral responses. But whether ESSER fully delivered return on investment is hard to measure, as research into its impact is still ongoing, and the design of the program and trajectory of the pandemic add to the difficulty of quantifying the funding’s results.
