Last week I cited a document from the Association of School Business Officials International and the School Superintendents Association stating the typical school district may have to spend nearly $1.78 million, or about $222K per school building, to deploy the gear, staff, and health practices to safely reopen amidst coronavirus.
So far, the federal government is providing South Dakota’s 149 school districts $41 million in emergency coronavirus aid, about $276K per district. That’s 15% of what ASBOI/ASSA says we need to do school-pandemic management right.
According to the South Dakota Department of Education’s district-by-district breakdown of CARES Act school emergency relief allocations, Aberdeen is getting $836,542, about $93K for each of its nine school buildings. Rapid City is getting $4.52 million; Sioux Falls, $4.63 million. Other districts receiving seven-figure allocations are Oglala Lakota County ($3.30M), Todd County ($3.23M), Eagle Butte ($1.27M), and Harrisburg ($1.04M). Chamberlain comes close to seven figures at $997K. Joining Aberdeen in getting over half a million are Bennett County, Brandon Valley, Brookings, Douglas, Dupree, Huron, Kadoka, McLaughlin, Mitchell, Sisseton, and Watertown.
90% of the CARES Act aid is assigned based on Title 1 allocations for low-income students. DOE is not continging this money on schools reopening face-to-face as some reckless yahoos demand; their latest guidance (not a legal guide, DOE emphasizes, because no one wants to get sued) assumes that schools will prioritize face-to-face instruction but expects “Local decisions will be rooted in what is best for students.” DOE recommends that districts assume coronavirus will be with us and treatments and vaccines will not throughout the school year and that districts thus be ready to close their buildings and teach entirely online.
Laurence Tribe
@tribelaw
·
Jul 12
.
@DanaBashCNN
just conducted one of the best interviews I’ve ever seen. She calmly exposed
@BetsyDeVosED
as an ignorant fraud unable to think clearly, speak coherently, or honestly address the matters she’s responsible for handling — matters vital to all our children.
Leslie, I saw that interview. Betsy DeVoid of All Humanity is possibly even lower IQ than Donny Dunce. Pitiful.
In the meantime, talking about use of COVID-19 $ . . .
” the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will likely receive over $10M (!!!) in federal funding to make modifications to their stadium to accommodate fans during the pandemic.”
Debbo, Catastrophes — pandemics, natural disasters, economic downturns — serve to focus on the economic perversions of our society. They do not create these inequities, but shine a light on how much we choose to tolerate and perpetuate under “normal” circumstances.
Why shouldn’t Covid money go to that stadium? $20m of it’s construction was paid for with tax payer funds. It is a well established sinkhole of public funds.