For poor schools, building repairs zap COVID relief money

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. For poorer school districts, deciding what to do with that money has involved a tough tradeoff: work on long-term academic recovery or fix long-standing infrastructure needs. William Merritt, the school district's chief of staff, said the funds gave the district the ability to “provide our students with tools that other students in well-to-do districts have.” The data in AP's analysis came from education market research firm Burbio, which reviewed how more than 6,000 districts across the country, representing over 75% of the nation’s public school students, planned to spend their federal relief money. U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a recent speech that the relief funding was “intended to accelerate reopening and recovery, not to fill decades of underinvestment in education funding and support for students.” Marguerite Roza, director of the Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University, said it was right for the government to allow a high degree of flexibility in how to spend the relief funds, rather than bogging districts down in red tape. The school's principal, Bobby Brown, said the money spent on infrastructure needs is very necessary — although not enough to address decades of inequity in the majority Black school system.