Put CARES Act funds to good, practical use in your school or district
In January 2021, the federal government passed the CARES Act and the American Rescue Plan (ARP) to help local education agencies (LEA) navigate the challenges posed by the pandemic, address potential learning loss among their students, and add critical technology to their classrooms.
For many schools and districts, once they finally got the money, they weren’t sure how or what to use it for. Part of that is because it’s taken time for the funds to reach districts. States had to apply to the federal government for their share, and school districts generally had to apply to their states, which is typical for a large federal grant program.
State legislatures or departments of education cannot limit how localities use the money, as long as the uses are within the bounds of the federal law. The law allows districts to spend their money on a broad range of things, from laptops, subscription-based online learning applications, internet hotspots to cleaning supplies, face masks, teacher training, and even staff salaries. Districts can use the money to cover the costs from last spring or make purchases for the new school year. They have until fall 2022 to spend it.
Subscription-based learning
Subscription-based online learning has rapidly evolved and is increasingly accepted by school districts and educators, as well as higher learning institutions. In most classrooms across the country, especially with the COVID pandemic, students are learning math and gaining reading skills with online educational programs.
Schools are allowed to use both CARES Act and ARP funding for Edtech solutions, which includes subscription-based online learning applications.
Here’s a list of the allowable uses of the package’s K-12 relief fund:
• Provide technology for online learning to all students, how to provide guidance for carrying out requirements under IDEA and how to ensure other educational services can continue to be provided consistent with all Federal, State, and local requirements.
• Purchasing educational technology (including hardware, software, and connectivity) for students who are served by the local educational agency that aids in regular and substantive educational interaction between students and their classroom instructors, including low-income students and students with disabilities, which may include assistive technology or adaptive equipment.
• Planning and implementing activities related to summer learning and supplemental after-school programs, including providing classroom instruction or online learning during the summer months and addressing the needs of low-income students, students with disabilities, English learners, migrant students, students experiencing homelessness, and children in foster care.
XtraMath has developed a subscription-based program for K6 that can help teachers and schools expand their ability to teach math to more students and easily integrate our online learning tools into classrooms. We are dedicated to helping kids learn math in a fun and engaging way, and to help teachers improve classroom time.
Our new Premium program includes professional development for teachers with online program training. Included in our Subscription program is XtraSTEM! This program includes fun projects for students that can be done at school or home. Also, our platform provides seamless integration with Google Classroom.
We know many K6 schools have yet to spend their allocation and with a new school year fast approaching, we encourage school districts and teachers to use your funding to purchase XtraMath’s Subscription program.
