A Huge Investment in California’s Children and their Safety

Teacher teaching in front of a black-board with mask

Over $25 billion in federal and state funds are available for California schools to get back to full in-person learning.

STATE FUNDING: Governor Newsom and the California Legislature passed a law (Assembly Bill 86) on March 5, 2021 to provide $6.6 billion total to schools for in-person instruction ($2 billion) and expanded learning opportunities ($4.6 billion).
FEDERAL FUNDING: U.S. Congress passed the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER I, ESSER II, and ESSER III Funds) and the Governor's Emergency Education Relief Fund (GEER I Fund) to provide California with over $21 billion to address the impact of COVID-19 on elementary and secondary schools. California also got $1.2 billion to support COVID-19 testing for teachers, staff and students (CDC funding).

School districts can receive state and federal money to address many needs to make sure students and teachers can safely return to full in-person instruction for the 2021-22 school year.

Schools must get public input from parents, school employees, and others in their school community on their spending plans for most of the state and federal funds.

Parents can find out how much state funding their school or school district received by visiting the interactive maps on the Safe Schools for All Hub. See more details at California Department of Education’s In-Person Instruction and Expanded Learning Opportunities funding page.

Originally published on June 29, 2021

SchoolSafetyFundingArticle A Huge Investment in California’s Children and their Safety