Subsequent federal responses to the pandemic generated even larger revenues for Michigan public schools than the CARES Act, even as schools served significantly fewer students during the 2020-21 academic year. In December 2020, Congress passed a second COVID relief package, known as the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, or CRRSAA. This allocated four times more funding to schools than the original ESSER funds. Districts must allocate these funds by Sept. 30, 2023.[16]
The full breakdown of CRRSAA allocations is unclear, as some of the specific funding remains in dispute. Under CRRSAA, Michigan public schools are slated to receive $1.49 billion, through the same funding formula used for ESSER.[17] While lawmakers have distributed $650 million of that sum, the Republican Legislature and Gov. Whitmer are at odds over the conditions under which to release the rest of the money. Legislators wanted the governor to relinquish state health department authority over school closures first, but she vetoed that provision.[18] The amount each district will receive from this pot of money has already been determined; it is just a matter of when the funds are released and according to what terms of agreement between the governor and Legislature.
CRRSAA also includes nearly $200 million for public schools in combined discretionary and GEER dollars.[19] All but $10 million of that amount has been approved to fund an array of summer school, after-school and credit recovery programs. Gov. Whitmer vetoed the remaining funds, which the Legislature set aside to reimburse parents for expenses related to summer school. She also vetoed $86.8 million intended to provide COVID relief to private schools.[20]A third relief bill approved by Congress, known as the American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA, surpasses all others in size. It is estimated to hand another $3.7 billion to Michigan public schools, far more than the combined revenues produced by its two predecessors. Nine out of 10 dollars in the allocation are guaranteed to fund conventional districts and charter schools, with most of the remaining funds available to fund summer school programs, after school programs and other education priorities at the Legislature’s discretion.[21] Districts must commit to allocating any funds from ARPA by September 2024, though some of the actual expenditures may occur later.[22]
The three rounds of COVID relief thus guarantee Michigan K-12 public schools between $5.75 and $6.1 billion in extra funds, an average of over $4,000 per student statewide.[*] That is more than three years’ worth of federal funding, based on amounts allocated before the COVID-19 pandemic.[†]
On average, these extra funds are nearly 10 times the maximum amount the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated may be needed to implement mitigation strategies for limiting the spread of COVID-19, which is $442 per pupil.[23] Yet, because the money is not allocated equally to all districts, some districts will receive dramatically more than this amount and others will end up with slightly less than this recommendation.
[*]The range between the two figures is created by $350 million in ESSER discretionary funds from ARPA that have not yet been allocated by the state Legislature.
[†]Total federal revenues for the previous three years are $1.735 billion (2016-17), $1.751 billion (2017-18) and $1.796 billion (2018-19). The three-year total of $5.282 billion falls short of the estimated federal COVID relief impact.