Following the Money: Investigating Variations in American Rescue Plan–Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ARP-ESSER) Funding Applications

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session Nine
  In Roundtable Session: Show Me the Money: Funding and the Allocation of Resources (Table 4)

Abstract

At $122 billion, ARP-ESSER is one of the largest influxes of funding from the federal government in recent decades, yet it has been the subject of surprisingly little research. This paper provides preliminary evidence on the types of investments ARP-ESSER has funded at the district level in one state, and how these expenditures vary by type of district. Districts with larger enrollments and those serving greater proportions of students living in poverty and Black and Latinx students received greater per pupil. Charter schools in our sample received much larger sums of money per pupil and appeared to spend their funds differently from conventional districts. We consider the implications of these patterns for advancing educational equity across the state.

Authors

• Morgaen L. Donaldson, University of Connecticut
  Presenting Author

• Samuel J. Kamin, University of Connecticut
  Non-Presenting Author

• Alexandra J. Lamb, University of Connecticut
  Non-Presenting Author