I Simply Don't Understand
At first I thought this article was a misprint. Then I thought there was an error in the reporting. Eventually I just had to admit I didn't understand.
Based on a lawsuit from a nonprofit law firm and parents in California, the state of California is now being forced to spend $2 billion to help students recover from learning losses that occurred during shutdowns during the pandemic. At the tail end of the pandemic, the federal government authorized just short of $200 billion to be allocated to states to help overcome learning losses that occurred when students were not in the classroom during the Covid-19 timeframe. California receives such funding. It appears, from the article, that the state of California chose not to spend nearly $2 billion of it, holding it in reserve.
It's important to note here that student performance coming out of the pandemic in California, as well as most other places, was significantly down. So much so that learning losses in certain grade levels reached double digits across the state.
So why in the world is California holding on to the money? That one I cannot answer.
However, over the next several years the state Department of Education must allocate the $2 billion for tutoring and other programs to help students recover from the learning loss.
What's even more fascinating is one of the quotes from one of the plaintiffs, apparent in the Los Angeles area. She said, “Between March and June of 2020 neither of my children learned anything in school.” I might advocate that there might have been a longer period where that was occurring.
I fear that even though a court is ordering the state to provide tutoring and other programs, it will take forever. These kids need help now. I feel so fortunate that where I live we were back in school by the first of August or so in 2020. Yes, there were face masks. Yes, there were issues. But the kids were back in school. I'm well aware of other school districts that were out for another 18 months, where kids didn't learn a darn thing.
It boggles my mind, thus so that I cannot understand, why California would think it would be OK to hold on to $2 billion specifically allocated for support for learning loss while learning loss is running rampant in the schools across the state. It just simply doesn't compute.
Unfortunately, too many things in government don't make sense regardless of how you look at them.
