Click on the link for the hub in your geographic area. Each hub’s website includes information on how to register for the program.
Midwest
Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Utah, Wisconsin, Wyoming
Northeast and South
(OperationExpandedTesting@AffinityEmpowering.com), (844)-631-0469)
Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia
West
(together@perkinelmer.com)
Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Pacific Islands, Washington
This program “provides a discount of up to $50 per month towards broadband service for eligible households and up to $75 per month for households on qualifying Tribal lands.
“Eligible households can also receive a one-time discount of up to $100 to purchase a laptop, desktop computer, or tablet from participating providers if they contribute more than $10 and less than $50 toward the purchase price.
“The Emergency Broadband Benefit is limited to one monthly service discount and one device discount per household.”
In order to take advantage of this program, households must meet certain eligibility requirements.
Individuals must apply for this benefit directly. The program is included here so that school staff can make members of their community aware that the program exists, and if necessary, help them to apply for the benefit.
The FCC is currently planning a similar program specifically for schools.
This fund was created “to address the impact” of COVID-19 on elementary and secondary schools. The good news is that because of that broad wording, schools have a lot of leeway on how they can spend the money they get.
FAQs about using ESSER, ESSER II, ARP ESSER, and GEER funds for school building construction projects from the US Department of Education.
FAQs about using these funds for vaccination and testing from the US Department of Education.
State-by-State Funding Directory: This directory includes a listing for your state educational agency, which disburses the money from this fund.
ESSER FAQs from the US Department of Education.
ESSER Fund Tracker: Includes how much each state has been allocated, with links to each state’s guidance for LEAs.
The GEER fund was also created as part of the CARES Act. It received additional money from the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSA).
For K-12 purposes, Governors can use this money to provide grants to local education agencies (LEAs) or to other “education-related entities” such as non-public elementary and secondary schools, and charter management organizations. Per the US Department of Education, “If the recipients are LEAs, the state educational agency (SEA) must determine that the LEAs have been the “most significantly impacted by coronavirus” to be eligible for a GEER Fund emergency grant.”
The federal government left schools have a lot of flexibility in how they can use GEER funds to respond to COVID-19. However, individual governors were also allowed to put their own constraints on these funds as they saw fit, so restrictions may vary from state to state.
FAQs about using ESSER, ESSER II, ARP ESSER, and GEER funds for school building construction projects from the US Department of Education.
FAQs about using these funds for vaccination and testing from the US Department of Education
State-by-State Funding Directory: This directory includes a listing for your governor’s office, which disburses the money from this fund.
Fact Sheet: Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund grom the US Department of Education. Includes information on GEER and GEER II.
GEER Fund FAQs from the US Department of Education.
This fund is very similar to the original ESSER fund. The states also have to use this fund “to measure and address learning loss among students disproportionately affected by the coronavirus and school closures, including: low-income students, children with disabilities, English learners, racial and ethnic minorities, students experiencing homelessness, and children and youth in foster care.”
At least 20 percent of the funding that LEAs receive must be used to address learning loss.
State-by-State Funding Directory: Within your state or territory, look for either your statewide or territorial department of health or, if you’re in a large or medium-sized city, for your city health department.
Q&A Document: Questions and answers from the informational call about this initiative in March 2021.
Email CSTLTS directly about this initiative.
Local educational agencies (LEAs) must reserve at least 20% of their ARP ESSER grants “to address learning loss through the implementation of evidence-based interventions ensure that those interventions respond to students’ social, emotional, and academic needs.”
They also need to “address the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on underrepresented student subgroups (each major racial and ethnic group, children from low-income families, children with disabilities, English learners, gender, migrant students, students experiencing homelessness, and children and youth in foster care).”
The rest of the funds can be used for the same purposes as those allowed under ESSER and ESSER II.
US Department of Education ARP ESSER Fact Sheet: Page two to three of this document has the whole laundry list of activities for which these funds can be used.
Parsing the Evidence Requirements of Federal COVID Aid: This article from Future Ed, a publication from Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy, explains how schools can address the requirement “that educators a significant portion of the money on things that have been found through research to make a difference for students.”
Using ARP Funding to Support Full-Service Community Schools & Related Strategies: From the US Department of Education. These kinds of schools include “after-school programs, health and social services, and other comprehensive services. They can therefore help ensure that no child’s opportunities are determined by their zip code, family’s income, race/ethnicity, disability status, or other factors.”
Per the US Department of Education, these funds “must be used for the purposes of identifying homeless children and youth and providing homeless children and youth with (A) wrap-around services in light of the challenges of COVID–19; and (B) assistance needed to enable homeless children and youth to attend school and participate fully in school activities.”
They also have to be used in ways that are are allowed by Title VII-B of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (McKinney-Vento Act) - Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) have to pay special attention to section 723(d) of that law.
For a full list of ways LEAs can use ARP-HCY funds, see pp. 3 - 5 of this document.
For ARP-HCY funds, contact your state’s Coordinator for the Education of Homeless Children, which can be found on this site.
ARP-HCY FAQs: From the US Department of Education.
Overview of US Department of Education Guidance on ARP-HCY Funding: From Schoolhouse Connection, “a national nonprofit organization working to overcome homelessness through education.”
State-by-State Funding Directory: This directory includes a listing for your state educational agency, which disburses the money from this fund.
Fact Sheet on Section 2014 of the ARP and the IDEA: From the US Department of Education.
Per the US Department of Health and Human Services, at least 85 percent of it has to either go directly to school districts or it has to provide materials and services for screening testing. Up to 15 percent can be used for “coordination, management, technical assistance, monitoring, and data collection and reporting activities to support K-12 screening testing programs.”
As of August 2021, this money can also be used for diagnostic testing, testing events that include the larger community, and for the purchase of portable HEPA filters and fans.
ELC funding can go to either public or private K-12 schools.
This tranche of money is flowing through the state departments of public health. In some cases, the state has set up either a single testing program for which schools can sign up, or has designated a set of approved testing vendors with which schools can partner at no cost to the school.
ELC Reopening Schools: Support for Screening Testing to Reopen & Keep Schools Operating Safely Guidance: From the US Department of Health and Human Services
SalivaDirect™has not been FDA cleared or approved. It has been authorized by the FDA under an emergency use authorization for use by authorized laboratories. The test has been authorized only for the detection of nucleic acid from SARS-CoV-2, not for any other viruses or pathogens. This test is only authorized for the duration of the declaration that circumstances exist justifying the authorization of emergency use of in vitro diagnostic tests for detection and/or diagnosis of COVID-19 under Section 564(b)(1) of the Act, 21 U.S.C. § 360bbb-3(b)(1), unless the authorization is terminated or revoked sooner.