HELENA — The U.S. Department of Education approved the Montana Office of Public Instruction’s application for Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds under the federal CARES Act.
Montana will receive $41.3 million to support local school districts in responding to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Of that amount, about $37 million will go directly to local school districts who have wide discretion over how to use the funds. The state receives about a $4.1 million set-aside to provide additional support to schools.
Superintendent Arntzen is using a portion of the state set-aside to ensure that every Montana school district receives at least $10,000.
“it’s important that even our tiniest schools, who oftentimes have the least amount of flexibility in their budget, it’s important they get a considerable boost because they are having to spend money just like the big districts, on technology services that they didn’t budget for,” said Office of Public Instruction spokesman Dylan Klapmeier.
School districts will have until September 2021 to allocate their funds.