COVID-19 Relief: No Money For School District Of The Chathams

CHATHAM, NJ — New Jersey school districts were told this week how much federal aid is coming to help mitigate the budgetary issues stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. The School District of the Chathams will not be receiving any money to help offset expenses from the coronavirus pandemic.

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The state Department of Education received $310 million in federal K-12 aid through the CARES Act. More than $200 million from that aid package was awarded to individual districts. Each district's allocation is based on its share of funding under Title I, the federal government’s primary funding program for high-poverty schools.

As the COVID-19 virus has affected all school districts and requires all of us to make expenditures to protect staff and students, I believe that all school districts should receive some degree of funding through the CARES Act," Chatham Superintendent Michael LaSusa said. " I am disappointed that so far the allocations have been based only on Title I funding, but I am hopeful that the state will issue targeted funding to the school districts that have so far been slated to receive nothing."

CARES Act Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Funds Allocations and Application The federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act includes specific funding sources for Local Education Agencies (LEAs).

The New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) has released LEAs’ ESSER Fund allocations.

ESSER Fund awards to LEAs are allocated in the same proportion as those funds received under Part A of Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended, in school year 2019-20.

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