The federal government has responded to the COVID crisis and its profound disruption to public schools with historic investments in K-12 education. The CARES Act at the start of the pandemic, the COVID response and relief package in December 2020, the Governors’ Emergency Education Relief (GEER) funds, and the March 2021 American Rescue Plan, specifically ARP’s Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) fund, all include significant funding for K-12 education. And with those investments, we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create the long-term systemic change public education desperately needs—and deliver on a promise of greater equity, rigor, and innovation.
