Wisconsin students are not back to pre-pandemic levels of achievement, despite school districts receiving over $2.3 billion in state and federal pandemic relief funds, according to a recent report by the Wisconsin Policy Forum, using data from the state Department of Public Instruction.
The money was used from spring 2020 to fall 2024 to help students adapt to virtual learning and recover from academic setbacks caused by school closures.
What pandemic relief funding was provided?
Wisconsin school districts received $46.6 million in Governor’s Emergency Education Relief funds allocated by the state, as well as $158.5 million in federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds, $685.4 million in ESSER II funds and $1.43 billion in ESSER III funds, from 2020 to 2024.
GEER I funds were given to districts most affected by COVID-19 based on how many students needed academic support and their ability to access learning. ESSER funds provided aid to districts serving more students from low-income households. The median amount of aid received across all funds was $1,784 per pupil, according to the Policy Forum report. Milwaukee Public Schools received the greatest portion of funding at $11,923 per pupil, the report said.
Sara Shaw, Policy Forum deputy research director, said Congress allowed the money to be used broadly, for a variety of expenditures, so schools could address local needs and spend the money according to their particular needs.
“This was meant to be a way of quickly getting the money to schools based on their level of need,” Shaw said.
The money was intended as a resource to mitigate the effects of the pandemic in schools and address institutional inequalities, Shaw said.
For ESSER III funds, districts were required to spend at least 20% to address the decline in academic achievement, which Shaw said was considered a priority.
Where are Wisconsin students still struggling the most?
A nationwide assessment by the Nation’s Report Card shows that the pandemic harmed students’ achievement levels in mathematics and reading. Student scores in these two categories have not returned to pre-pandemic levels.
Wisconsin ranked 16th among states in terms of recovery in math and 30th in reading between 2019 and 2024. Average math achievement in 2024 was a third of a grade level below 2019 levels. Average reading achievement was half a grade level below.
“Those are decently large numbers, and that’s not just the immediate pandemic recovery,” Shaw said. “We’re now several years out.”
Attendance is an ongoing issue
Chronic absenteeism skyrocketed after the peak of the pandemic, Shaw said.
A student is considered to be chronically absent if they miss at least 10% of school days in the year, or about 18 days. Shaw said absenteeism is a problem because if students aren’t in school, it’s hard for them to develop relationships with peers and trusted adults.
In 2022, the Wisconsin chronic absenteeism rate was 23%, and in 2024, 18%. But before the pandemic in 2019, the rate was 13%.
“That’s speaking to some real shift in the relationship between kids and going to school,” Shaw said. “That’s very concerning to us.”
According to the Policy Forum report, school districts could use federal aid to create programs to combat chronic absenteeism, but efforts would’ve only been temporary as the grants expired. The report mentioned that these programs also could have added to districts’ financial challenges and would have required additional staffing of temporary positions, which can be difficult to fill.
Shaw also said summer school enrollment has not returned to pre-pandemic levels, and that poor student mental health remains a concern after the pandemic.
Which students have fallen the furthest behind?
Although the Policy Forum report didn’t focus specifically on this topic for Wisconsin, Shaw noted that the state has had the largest standardized test scoring gap between Black students and White students for years. This gap widened after the pandemic, she said, which exacerbated existing inequities.
Nationally, Shaw said, it appears elementary students fell behind more when compared to older students. Researchers don’t know for certain whether Wisconsin followed this pattern, but Shaw said it’s a concern for the state to pay attention to.
“What we found after the pandemic’s peak is that the amount by which age groups had increased in their absenteeism was higher for the younger grades,” Shaw said. “That, at its worst, could mean that these youngest learners are having their habits shift the most in a way that could continue to define their entire school trajectory.”
How did MPS use funding compared to other districts?
Of the pandemic relief funds spent statewide, 33% was spent on preparedness and response to COVID-19 while 43% was spent on addressing long-term school closures related to the pandemic. Those numbers were flipped for MPS.
Shaw said MPS spent nearly half of its funding on preparedness and response, and only 28% on long-term closures. While facilities spending (covered by preparedness and response funds) doesn’t directly address student learning, she said, students’ learning is affected by the physical environment they’re in.
Managing aging facilities is among the priorities for MPS’ new superintendent, Brenda Cassellius.
“For MPS, particularly, we’re in the middle of a lead paint crisis,” Shaw said. “That seems to really illustrate the importance of doing basic maintenance in schools to make sure that the environment is still healthy for students.”
Documents show MPS spent at least $235.4 million in pandemic relief funds on facilities projects, including new carpeting and flooring, bug screens, lockers, carbon dioxide detectors, water fountains, fire alarms, furniture, painting and replacement of window systems.
The district confirmed that no federal relief funding was used for repainting projects associated with lead stabilization or remediation. District and city officials have said MPS lapsed in meeting internal protocols for management of lead paint. The district has since pledged to update internal policies and follow them.
How much of the relief funding was spent?
Shaw said one of the biggest takeaways from the report is that, despite a fear that school districts wouldn’t know how to use the money and would have to send some back to the federal government, almost all the funding has been spent. According to the report, only 0.01% went unused.
As federal dollars have dried up now, Shaw said, she hopes that those who are financing school districts continue to think about how to address student recovery needs.
“As much as everyone wants the pandemic to be over, we have a lot of evidence that it is not over in terms of its lingering effects on students’ well-being and on their academic achievement,” Shaw said.
Contact Mia Thurow at mthurow@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Despite millions in relief funding, Wisconsin students are still not back to pre-pandemic achievement levels
Reporting by Mia Thurow, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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