Arkansas will distribute $23.2 million to 39 school districts to help them with covid-related expenses, Education Secretary Johnny Key announced Friday.
The districts include Bentonville ($7,084,551.23), Bryant ($2,129,963.91), Cabot ($1,832,463.19) and Fayetteville ($987,840.91).
The 39 districts received limited funds under a previous allocation.
“As with every district in the state, these 39 districts have faced unprecedented challenges related to covid,” Key said. “However, due to federal requirements regarding how the funding amounts were calculated and distributed, many districts received significantly lower amounts compared to other schools.”
Earlier allocations were distributed based on Title I funds from fiscal 2020. As a result, some Arkansas school districts with smaller numbers of high-poverty students received limited relief funding from the $500 million that the government provided to Arkansas schools, the Arkansas Department of Education said in its announcement Friday.
The money can be used for preparing for and responding to covid-19 measures; efforts to lessen the effect of any learning loss; and restoring learning environments, the state agency said.
Read Saturday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for more details.