Whitmer Signs Bill To Send $4.4B In Rescue Funds To Schools

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Wednesday signed a supplemental spending bill that releases $4.4 billion in federal coronavirus rescue funding designated for K-12 schools.

It is a significant influx of aid, particularly to traditional districts and charter schools with high numbers or percentages of children from low-income families. Legislation the Democratic governor will sign next week will allot $363 million in U.S. COVID-19 funds to ensure districts with more middle-class or wealthy kids receive at least $1,093 more per student regardless of a federal formula.

"All districts are going to be getting a lot of help through this bill," Whitmer said during a signing event at Ojibwa Elementary School in Macomb County.

Schools getting $3.3 billion from a rescue law signed by President Joe Biden must use at least 20% to address pandemic-related learning loss with interventions such as summer learning and afterschool programs. The bill the governor signed also allocates more than $900 million remaining from an aid package signed by former President Donald Trump in December.

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