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Includes Individual ISD, Charter and Higher-Ed Amounts
DeVos Unveils Interactive Online Portal
Detailing CARES Act School Distributions
Outgoing U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos unveiled (Nov. 20) an interactive portal reflecting how much of CARES Act funding targeted for education has been spent nationally and in each state.

The data reflects that as of Sept. 30, Texas had spent: $1.14 billion (42 percent) of the $2.7 billion allocated. Of this, Texas was reported to have spent:
  • $107.2 million (8.3 percent) of the $1.3 billion awarded under the Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund.

  • All (100 percent) of $307.03 million in Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) funding.

  • $729.05 million (64.4 percent) of 1.1 billion Higher Education Emergency Relief (HEER) funding awarded.

Although DeVos said in a statement that the point of the creation of the online portal was to show that much of the CARES Act funding awarded nationally has not been spent, critics said the conclusion was flawed, due to (among other things), that states have made plans on how they will spend the money (even though they have not actually spent it yet) — and they will have until September of next year to actually do so.

Also, although the data reflects CARES Act funding allocated for individual districts and charters, the data does not reflect the fact that Texas ISDs and charters will see their state school funding reduced by (to a large extent) the amount of their CARES Act funding allocations.