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TEA to Use $1.29B Grant to Schools
To Replace State Funding in 2020-21
The TEA delivered disappointing news to school districts and charters — that they won't see much benefit from the $1.29 billion in federal coronavirus relief funding after all.

They’ll still get the money, but their state funding entitlements for next school year will be reduced by a corresponding amount.

Thus, the coronavirus grants will be used to supplant (replace) rather than supplement (add to) funding entitlements for charters and districts for next school year due to the state’s expected budget shortfalls.

ESSER
The funding is under the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) grant program of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The TEA previously released the ESSER entitlement amounts for all ISDs and charter districts.

The TEA, in a statement (reported here), pointed out that the state didn’t have to, but did, fund schools for the entire 2019-20 school year even though school buildings closed two-thirds of the way through the school year.

“Despite significant reductions in economic activity caused by pandemic-related shutdowns, it’s important to know that school district funding has been fully preserved in Texas,” the statement said.

“Shady”
But, Troy Reynolds of Texans for Public Education, told the Austin American-Statesman (June 13) that it was “shady” that the state is hijacking the coronavirus aid meant for public schools by reducing the state’s contribution to schools by an equal amount.

The TEA pointed to other coronavirus-related grants and funding sources available to schools — that won’t subject ISDs and charter districts to state funding offsets, such as the Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) that will pay for up to 75 percent of COVID-19 related “additive” expenses incurred as of the close of business on May 20, as well as funding from a federal COVID-19 grant program to be used at the governor’s discretion.