Not only that, David, but schools claim they don’t have the resources to function in the present Covid environment, either. Chris Hayes makes a good point on this (don’t expect to see those words too often on the Corner, but credit where it’s due).
I feel like there’s a weird memory-holing of the fact last spring Congress distributed $123 billion dollars to K-12 schools for Covid preparedness. That’s nearly $1 million *per school*. So big q is: what was that used for?
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) January 5, 2022
This is on top of the fact that the states have plenty of money already. According to the National Association of State Budget Officers:
- 47 states reported that their general revenues exceeded projections for fiscal year 2021.
- 32 states said they were exceeding revenue projections so far for fiscal year 2022.
- State rainy-day fund balances have never been higher.
If states are coming up short on resources to keep schools open, that’s on them.
“What was that used for?” Expect that question to be a theme of the next few years as we consider the outcomes of spending 27 percent of GDP on Covid-related “stimulus.”