SLO County schools spent tens of millions in COVID crisis. Now more is on the way
Schools in San Luis Obispo County spent tens of millions of dollars in federal relief funds during the COVID-19 pandemic, using it to pay for expenses they never anticipated.
There’s lots more to come.
Now that the Chromebooks, the plexiglass and handgloves and other personal protective equipment have been secured with federal funds, California’s K-12 schools stand to gain another $16 billion. It’s coming from the $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus law President Joe Biden signed in March.
This time, the money can be used for more than hardware and plugging budget holes. Some of it is intended to make up for students’ pandemic learning loss.
The money is a relief, San Luis Obispo education leaders say, allowing them to create new services to help kids catch up.
“It has turned a crisis into an opportunity to maybe be able to do some new things in reading recovery and things like that, that we would not have been able to afford before, that are needed now more than ever,” said Curt Dubost, superintendent of the Paso Robles Joint Unified School District. “So we’re really excited about that possibility to try and make something positive out of all this.”
The first burst of new school money is expected sometime next month. The results may not be obvious right away.
California Department of Education officials said that spending plans can move slowly. Schools often need to obtain permits and approval from school boards. Some projects, like redoing entire HVAC systems during the pandemic, take longer than purchasing laptops for students.
Schools are preparing to spend the money as Biden’s stimulus plan continues to face scrutiny from Republicans who view it as excessive following the $2.2 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill former President Trump signed in March 2020.
“It takes a long time to spend trillions of dollars,” said John Cornyn, R-Texas, a Senate Finance Committee member. “It’s actually harder than you would think. But it seems like we’re just kind of awash in federal spending, and I know there were some numbers that suggested that inflation may be at our door, and so I’m concerned about that.”
California governments, businesses and residents were due to get a total of $272 billion in federal help last year, including $15 billion from a special coronavirus relief fund. All but $13 billion has been spent, according to the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
The Tribune checked with local school districts in San Luis Obispo County, and most of the school districts said they spent the allotted 2020 money.
Money helped Central Coast schools reopen
The COVID funds have been vital for keeping local school districts afloat during the devastating pandemic, school leaders said.
“I don’t know what we would have done if we didn’t have those dollars. There’s no way school districts would have made it and been able to even have kids back on campus right now if we didn’t get the federal funds,” said Ryan Pinkerton, San Luis Coastal Unified School District’s assistant superintendent of business and support services.
The first round of stimulus money schools received went largely to supplies: masks, gloves, plexiglass dividers for desks, new laptops and WiFi hotspots.
Schools also spent the money on staff.
Some districts hired temporary employees for new positions like small cohort leaders for when only small groups of students were allowed on campus. Teachers at some schools received hazard pay for working with students in person before schools reopened.
One district, Templeton Unified, gave staff members a one-time bonus equivalent to 1% of their salaries for attending required COVID-19 training sessions and for spending extra time working during the transition from distance learning to in-person school.
Sheldon Smith, assistant superintendent at the San Luis Obispo County Office of Education, said the money sent to school districts was spent “for both the teachers and the classroom to pivot to distance learning.”
The aim was to continue educating students, “but in a different setting for both students/teachers and thus the connectivity and equipment expenditures required to do so,” Smith added.
The San Luis Obispo County Office of Education received $683,078 in federal COVID relief funds and spent 98% of it by the end of 2020.
Paso Robles Joint Unified School District received a total of $10.2 million in COVID relief funds in 2020, according to data from the California Department of Public Health.
Lucia Mar Unified School District received $12 million. San Luis Coastal Unified, received $7.3 million and Atascadero Unified School District received $4.7 million, according to California Department of Public Health data.
Making up for missed class time
With the new round of federal stimulus funding, Paso Robles Joint Unified School District is slated to receive an estimated $11.4 million in COVID relief funds, according to data from Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara.
Lucia Mar Unified School District is expected to receive about $9.5 million, while San Luis Coastal Unified School District will receive about $5.4 million and Atascadero Unified School District will receive about $4 million, according to the data.
All of that money must be spent by 2024.
School districts already bought most of the materials needed to facilitate distance learning to healthy in-person learning — so now some district officials say they’re looking forward to spending the money on something else.
Pinkerton said that most of the money San Luis Coastal will spend its new COVID relief funds on will be to help kids recover academically from the learning loss experienced during distance learning.
“The biggest thing now, honestly, is really focusing on those kids that have some academic deficits because of being virtual for a year and then having half-day of in-person school for the rest of the year,” he said. “So I think for school districts that’s going to be the thing that they’re going to have to really focus on: What are the extra things we can do for students next year to get them caught up, to get back on track?”
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