Pennsylvania education groups say the stimulus bill passed by Congress last week is a promising start, but that more must be done to help schools recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. The $900 billion federal package, which was signed by President Donald Trump on Sunday night, includes $82 billion for educational purposes across the country. Of that, about $54 billion is earmarked for elementary and secondary education and about $23 billion is set aside for higher education. The Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials — which predicted in the spring that schools across the state could face shortfalls of as much as $1 billion — said the additional funding provided in the stimulus bill is welcome but only represents a temporary reprieve.  “[T]his is one-time revenue, and these additional funds — while absolutely critical now — will present new challenges in the future as they disappear,” PASBO said in a statement. 

The state Department of Education will distribute the money to schools similarly to how the federal CARES Act was handled, but it is not yet known what share of the funding Pennsylvania will receive, according to a department spokeswoman.

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Source: ANDREW GOLDSTEIN Pittsburgh Post-Gazette agoldstein@post-gazette.com DEC 28, 2020 5:30 AM.