Education received 4.6% of all federal stimulus funds in Colorado.
In response to the coronavirus pandemic, Congress passed three stimulus bills — the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act (March 2020); the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations (CRRSA) Act (December 2020); and the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act (March 2021) — resulting in nearly $66 billion in funds for Colorado. “Federal pandemic funding can be divided into five big buckets — personal assistance at $23.3 billion or 37% of the total; business assistance at $21.1 billion or a third of what Colorado received; state and local government assistance at $10.8 billion or 17% of the total; health care programs at $5.1 billion or 8.1%; and education at $2.9 billion or 4.6%.” Source
Education federal stimulus funds are meant to address the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and will expire by September 30, 2024.
In addition to mitigating the effects of the pandemic, the shortfall in state funding to Colorado schools during the 2020-21 school year doubled and the one-time federal stimulus funds helped to temporarily mitigate the significant loss in funding to school districts.
The following graphic displays the three stimulus bills with their allocations to education in Colorado. Funding varies significantly between districts and is primarily based upon the poverty rates of students enrolled in the district. Following the graphic, the district specific information is provided. A full list of acronyms used is available here.
