ESSER – the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief program – sent states $122 billion to help schools recover from the pandemic. But states had only allocated 79% of the total as of this week, and have until Sept. 30 to allocate it or give it back to the feds. Stock.adobe.com by snowing12 .
Maryland school officials said they are confident they will able to obligate almost $780 million in federal funds in the next 10 days – money that will have to be returned to the federal government if they don’t.
The funding is part of $1.95 billion Maryland received in use-it-or-lose-it pandemic-relief funds for schools from the American Rescue Plan’s Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief, or ESSER, program. As of this week, Maryland had spent 60.7% of the total, for $1.18 billion.
Maryland’s rate of obligating its funds is one of the lowest in the nation, ahead of only Nebraska and the District of Columbia, according to a U.S. Department of Education dashboard .
In a letter to all states dated Sept. 10, Laura Jimenez, director of state and grantee relations in the department’s ESSER Office, reminded grantees that they have until Sept. 30 to report on how they will commit to draw down the remaining money. States have until Jan. 28, 2025, to liquidate, or spend, the money, but can also request an extension to March 2026.