Austin ISD is believes it will get $150 million in federal education COVID relief.
AISD Superintendent Stepanie Elizalde says those dollars come with certain stipulations. For instance, at least 20% of it has to help students bridge learning gaps created during pandemic. She says they also can’t just go and spend they money as they see fit, Elizalde explains, they have to hold stakeholder meetings and take public comment. Those meetings are expected to start in 2-3 weeks.
She says the district has spent $55 million on COVID mitigation, and is also hoping to recoup some of that through the federal funds.
Both the Trump and Biden Presidential administrations sent billions of dollars to Texas to help school districts and students. But the state held onto those funds rather than sending immediately to school districts. Texas Governor Greg Abbott and other state leaders have released more that $11 billion in federal education relief.
