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On September 30, 2023, the Governor’s Emergency Schooling Reduction (GEER) Fund got here to an finish after two rounds of funding issued via the Coronavirus Help, Reduction, and Financial Safety (CARES) Act and the Coronavirus Response and Reduction Supplemental Act (CRRSA).
Every of the U.S. states took a distinct strategy and carried out completely different methods, however on the finish of funding, solely 4 (Hawaii, Idaho, Washington, and Wyoming) returned nothing again to the federal authorities.
What’s the GEER Fund?
Governors got nice flexibility with find out how to use funding offered to their state from the federal authorities through the shutdowns pressured by COVID-19 throughout 2020-2021. Congress handed three rounds of federal stimulus funds, and two out of these three included a block grant for governors to finest determine who, how a lot, and what to fund associated to the emergency of their state. By means of each rounds of funding, the GEER fund acquired $4.3 billion for governors to spend at their discretion.
In a letter to governors, the U.S. Division of Schooling said that, “This terribly versatile emergency block grant empowers you to determine how finest to satisfy the present wants of scholars, faculties (together with constitution faculties and personal faculties), postsecondary establishments, and different education-related organizations in your State in order that college proceed to show and college students proceed to study. My Division won’t micromanage the way you spend these funds, however I encourage you, at a time when so many college boards, superintendents, and establishments of upper training have needed to shut their brick and mortar campuses for the steadiness of the varsity yr, to focus these sources on making certain that every one college students proceed to study probably via some type of distant studying.”
So What Occurred?
As of the newest replace to the U.S. Division of Schooling Transparency portal, as a rustic we collectively returned $420,284,192, which is roughly 10% of the whole allocation to the fund.
Most states have been capable of spend down, however there have been some particularly excessive numbers in place resembling Florida ($59m), Georgia ($27m), and Arizona ($23m). These numbers aren’t but finalized, however paint image of what was returned. By comparability, below the stimulus funds in 2009 (the American Restoration and Reinvestment Act – ARRA) the U.S. Division of Schooling returned $6.3b {dollars}, the second highest quantity of the opposite federal companies.
Oklahoma
As beforehand talked about, these numbers aren’t ultimate. For instance, after I went via and added up the totals for every state, I noticed that Oklahoma had spent nothing out of GEER II. This was unusual, so I began investigating. It seems that Oklahoma had lots of of hundreds of the GEER I fund flagged for a federal audit. The state then required the workplace of Administration and Enterprise Companies to supervise the allocation of the GEER II funds.
It was simply introduced on October 23 (virtually a month after the deadline) that Governor Stitt allotted $18m for a number of completely different initiatives, and the recipients have till January 31 to spend funds. This would depart Oklahoma with solely $1.9m to return as an alternative of $19m.
What Does This Imply Going Ahead?
As GEER funds finish and others proceed, it is very important take into consideration remaining federal funds in your district. The extra stimulus funding returned again to the federal authorities, the extra possible cuts shall be made to formulation funding within the coming years.
Moreover, states could also be pulling again financial help within the potential probability of a recession taking place after the federal funds expire. Governors had the chance to find out methods to help districts with the GEER fund, and plenty of left vital quantities of funding on the desk.
We should strategically, thoughtfully, and effectively spend the final spherical of ESSER {dollars}, in any other case it’s greater than a fiscal cliff, it turns right into a use-it-or-lose scenario with long-term implications — it’s possible additional cuts from state budgets within the very close to future.
| State | Quantity Returned |
| Arizona | $23,949,59 |
| Arkansas | $4,154,897 |
| California | $18,937,994 |
| Colorado | $15,089,290 |
| Connecticut | $7,451,108 |
| Delaware | $399,718 |
| Florida | $59,039,156 |
| Georgia | $27,324,732 |
| Hawai’i | $0 |
| Idaho | $0 |
| Illinois | $11,857,363 |
| Indiana | $17,758,149 |
| Iowa | $2,198,330 |
| Kansas | $5,493,467 |
| Kentucky | $6,795,279 |
| Louisiana | $1,824,512 |
| Maine | $3,639,753 |
| Maryland | $10,718,397 |
| Massachusetts | $4,915,323 |
| Michigan | $17,185,043 |
| Minnesota | $2,190,863 |
| Mississippi | $9,562,991 |
| Missouri | $7,655,939 |
| Montana | $1,627,019 |
| Nebraska | $5,322,381 |
| Nevada | $2,831,528 |
| New Hampshire | $849,485 |
| New Jersey | $355,494 |
| New Mexico | $6,005,009 |
| New York | $18,768,325 |
| North Carolina | $16,567,478 |
| North Dakota | $1,799,175 |
| Ohio | $10,864,233 |
| Oklahoma | $19,623,806 |
| Oregon | $8,082,522 |
| Pennsylvania | $6,291,852 |
| Rhode Island | $2,944,869 |
| South Carolina | $696,207 |
| South Dakota | $791,329 |
| Tennessee | $8,756,503 |
| Texas | $24,662,207 |
| Utah | $2,663,141 |
| Vermont | $1,811,906 |
| Virginia | $10,000,982 |
| Washington | $0 |
| West Virginia | $5,411,236 |
| Wisconsin | $869,976 |
| Wyoming | $0 |
| Whole | $420,284,192 |
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