Michigan schools will receive a combined $6 billion in federal COVID relief once the latest round of funding is released to the state’s 830-plus traditional public and charter public school districts next month. This historic infusion of federal cash comes with few strings attached and the federal law provides limited opportunity for taxpayers to know how the money will be spent or, more importantly, whether the spending will help those students most affected by the pandemic’s impact on their learning. There is a dearth of public transparency in the design of the various federal education aid packages approved thus far and it is compounded by limitations to how the state and local school districts report spending public dollars.

The American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act sends an additional $122 billion in public K-12 education aid to states for COVID recovery. This latest tranche of federal relief earmarked more than $3.7 billion to Michigan, bringing the state’s total haul of education relief to nearly $6 billion across three different packages since early 2020. By law, at least 90 percent of these funds (nearly $3.4 billion) must be allocated directly to the state’s public school districts and distributed among them based on an existing federal formula. And, just like the previous two installments of federal funding, Congress largely left it up to individual districts to decide how they will spend these dollars to address students’ academic, social, and emotional needs arising from the pandemic.

Yet, almost an entire year after the passage of the ARP Act, parents, students, teachers and taxpayers have little idea how, specifically, Michigan schools intend to put these dollars to use. Previous reporting by Bridge Magazine highlighted how a small sampling of districts were spending the federal dollars received from the two previous federal relief packages to enhance educational opportunities and protect the health of students. And investigative reporting in other states has documented how previous federal dollars were being spent to construct and expand sports stadiums and outdoor learning centers. But, to date, little is known about how Michigan schools will put to use the additional $3.4 billion.

A poll released last week revealed that Michiganders would like their schools to invest the windfall of federal dollars in academic intervention to help students recover from the pandemic and on enriched mental health services. While this recent survey may highlight how parents want to spend the money, it remains unclear how many districts are listening to parents and students and whether these preferences have made it into the spending plans they are required to prepare and submit to the state for approval. 

It is understandable that schools want to take time and to be intentional with the record-setting federal aid coming to Michigan schools, but we are nearly a year out since Congress approved the funding and few districts have shared anything publicly. This lack of transparency is even more concerning given the fact that Congress mandated stakeholder input in the development of spending plans. While the ARP Act does not tell states and districts what to do with the money they receive (other than a requirement that districts must set aside 20 percent of their allocation to address student “learning loss”), it does require them to engage in “meaningful consultation” with their communities and various stakeholder groups to craft these plans. Something that was not required with the previous two federal aid packages.

But, transparency surrounding the implementation of the “meaningful consultation” provision has been lacking in Michigan and other states. And, when districts have solicited input, this has come largely through on-line surveys and information sessions led by district officials. These efforts may not be enough to assure the public that their concerns are shaping district priorities. 

Soon Michiganders will have some insights into district plans regarding how the federal dollars will be put to use. Although districts knew how much ARP aid they were in line to receive nearly a year ago, the Michigan Department of Education opened the application window just last fall. The funds cannot be released until the state approves a district’s application and spending plan. Schools face a February 15 deadline to submit this information. The state had set an initial deadline of December 15, 2021 for submission, but less than one-third of districts had completed their applications by this date and requested additional time. 

Once all local plans are finalized and made public in a couple weeks, what can we expect to learn from them?

Ideally, these plans would provide us with the information necessary to be able to answer detailed questions about how the federal dollars will affect student learning. But, because of the limitations to how the state and districts track spending, we are only likely to be able to answer high-level questions about how much money has been spent and on what. And, even that information will be limited.

Michigan has not required school districts to link their spending to particular students. Instead, districts likely will present spending plans in terms of district-level staffing levels and programs. This spending can be sliced by the object being purchased, such as salaries, benefits, supplies and materials, or by the function of the spending, such as instruction, administration, facilities. While this information will provide answers to the question about “what” is being purchased with the federal dollars, we will not be able to see how specific student groups benefit from this spending and how district decisions translate into student outcomes.

For example, we are unlikely to learn from these spending plans how districts are going to address the profound learning impacts caused by COVID for some of Michigan’s most vulnerable students, such as those with disabilities. We know that prolonged school closures separated many students with disabilities from the hands-on instructional supports and physical or cognitive therapies set forth by their Individualized Education Programs. Throughout the pandemic, many schools were challenged to deliver to these students the same quantity and quality of specialized services they received previously. Unfortunately, we will not know how districts plan to program a portion of their federal funds to meet the needs of these students going forward.

Absent student-level information, tracking spending at the school level would provide a window into how the federal dollars are being put to use to aid student learning. However, districts were not required to include this level of detail in the plans submitted to the state, despite the fact that Michigan has been collecting and reporting school-level spending since the 2018-19 school year. Again, this may be a particular problem when it comes to trying to assess whether individual schools, with identifiable student populations, that were most impacted by the pandemic received additional learning support from the federal money.

Make no mistake, much of the blame for the lack of public transparency around the historic federal education relief rests with Congress and the legislation authorizing the funding. Transparency may have been traded for expediency in delivering funds to states and local districts.  But, even with the public input requirements tied to the last round of relief aid under the American Rescue Plan, knowing how these dollars will help students most impacted by the pandemic will be hampered by limitations to how Michigan and its 830 school districts report and track the spending of $3.4 billion.

Permission to reprint this blog post in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the Citizens Research Council of Michigan is properly cited.