On September 30, 2023, the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund (GEER) came to an end after two rounds of funding issued through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Act (CRRSA). .
Each of the US states took a different approach and implemented different strategies, but at the end of the funding, only four (Hawaii, Idaho, Washington and Wyoming) returned nothing to the federal government.
What is the GEER Fund?
Governors were given great flexibility on how to use funds provided to their state by the federal government during COVID-19 forced closures during 2020-2021. Congress approved three rounds of federal stimulus funding, and two of those three included a block grant for governors to better decide who, how much and what to fund related to the emergency in their state. Through both rounds of funding, the GEER fund received $4.3 billion for governors to spend at their discretion.
In a letter to governors, the U.S. Department of Education stated that “this extraordinarily flexible emergency block grant allows you to decide how best to meet the current needs of students, schools (including charter schools and nonpublic schools), postsecondary institutions, and other education-related organizations in your state so that teachers continue teaching and students continue learning. My Department will not micromanage how these funds are spent, but I encourage you, at a time when so many school boards, superintendents, and institutions of higher education have had to close their physical campuses for the remainder of the school year, to focus these resources on ensuring that “All students will likely continue learning through some form of remote learning.”
So what happened?
According to the latest update of the US Department of Education’s Education Transparency portal, as a country we collectively returned $420,284,192, which is approximately 10% of the total allocation to the fund.
Most states were able to reduce spending, but there were some especially high numbers, such as Florida ($59 million), Georgia ($27 million) and Arizona ($23 million). These figures are not yet final, but they offer a good picture of what was returned. In comparison, under the 2009 stimulus funds (the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – ARRA), the US Department of Education returned $6.3 billion, the second highest amount of any other federal agency.
Oklahoma
As mentioned above, these numbers are not final. For example, after reviewing and adding up the totals for each state, I saw that Oklahoma had not spent any of the GEER II. This was strange, so I started investigating. Turns out Oklahoma had hundreds of thousands of GEER I fund flagged for a federal audit. The state then required the Business Management and Services office to oversee the allocation of GEER II funds.
It was just announced on October 23 (almost a month after the deadline) that Governor Stitt allocated 18 million dollars for several different projects, and recipients have until January 31 to spend the funds. This would leave Oklahoma with only $1.9 million to pay back instead of $19 million.
What does this mean in the future?
As GEER funds end and others continue, it is important to think about the remaining federal funds in your district. The more stimulus funds return to the federal government, the more likely cuts to formula funds will be made in the coming years.
Additionally, states may be withdrawing cash assistance amid the potential for a recession after federal funds expire. Governors had the opportunity to determine ways to support districts with the GEER fund, and many left significant amounts of funding on the table.
We must strategically, thoughtfully, and efficiently spend the latest round of ESSER dollars; Otherwise, it will be more than a fiscal cliff, it will become a “use it or lose” situation with long-term implications: probably more cuts to state budgets. in the very near future.
| State | Refunded amount |
| Arizona | $23,949.59 |
| Arkansas | $4,154,897 |
| California | $18,937,994 |
| Colorado | $15,089,290 |
| Connecticut | $7,451,108 |
| Delaware | $399,718 |
| Florida | $59,039,156 |
| Georgia | $27,324,732 |
| Hawaii | $0 |
| Idaho | $0 |
| Illinois | $11,857,363 |
| Indiana | $17,758,149 |
| Iowa | $2,198,330 |
| Kansas | $5,493,467 |
| Kentucky | $6,795,279 |
| Louisiana | $1,824,512 |
| Maine | $3,639,753 |
| Maryland | $10,718,397 |
| Massachusetts | $4,915,323 |
| Michigan | $17,185,043 |
| Minnesota | $2,190,863 |
| Mississippi | $9,562,991 |
| Missouri | $7,655,939 |
| Mountain | $1,627,019 |
| Nebraska | $5,322,381 |
| Snowfall | $2,831,528 |
| New Hampshire | $849,485 |
| New Jersey | $355,494 |
| New Mexico | $6,005,009 |
| NY | $18,768,325 |
| North Carolina | $16,567,478 |
| North Dakota | $1,799,175 |
| Ohio | $10,864,233 |
| Oklahoma | $19,623,806 |
| Oregon | $8,082,522 |
| Pennsylvania | $6,291,852 |
| Rhode Island | $2,944,869 |
| South Carolina | $696,207 |
| South Dakota | $791,329 |
| Tennessee | $8,756,503 |
| Texas | $24,662,207 |
| Utah | $2,663,141 |
| Vermont | $1,811,906 |
| Virginia | $10,000,982 |
| Washington | $0 |
| West Virginia | $5,411,236 |
| Wisconsin | $869,976 |
| Wyoming | $0 |
| Total | $420,284,192 |
