NOTE: Information found on this page does not reflect all recent updates. This page will remain on the WCRIS website as a reference while COVID relief programs are ending. If you have questions about pandemic aid programs, please contact WCRIS.
The federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, providing $2 Trillion in financial relief to help manage the impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic, was signed by President Trump on Friday, March 27.
CAPE and its state affiliates around the country, like WCRIS, lobbied federal lawmakers successfully to include private K-12 schools.
You can view a summary from CAPE on how the law impacts private K-12 schools here.
The CARES Act has two distinct programs for the education of K-12 students:
A) The ESSER Funds
These are divided among a state’s public school districts. There are 12 allowable uses for the funds. Here is a layman summary:
The use of the Education Stabilization Funds is not restricted to Title I purposes. Funds can be used to implement activities related to:
- ESEA, IDEA, Carl Perkins, and McKinney-Vento.
- Coordinating preparedness and response efforts with other agencies related to the coronavirus.
- Providing principals with resources to meet the needs of schools.
- Addressing the unique needs of low-income children or students, children with disabilities, English learners, racial and ethnic minorities, students experiencing homelessness, and foster care youth, including how outreach and service delivery will meet the needs of each population.
- Developing and implementing procedures and systems to improve the preparedness and response efforts of local educational agencies.
- Training and professional development for staff of the local educational agency on sanitation and minimizing the spread of infectious diseases.
- Purchasing supplies to sanitize and clean the facilities of a local educational agency, including buildings operated by such agency.
- Planning for and coordinating during long-term closures, including for how to provide meals to eligible students; how to provide technology for online learning to all students; how to provide guidance for carrying out requirements under IDEA; and how to ensure other educational services can continue to be provided consistent with all federal, state and local requirements.
- Purchasing educational technology (including hardware, software and connectivity) for students who are served by the local educational agency that aids in regular and substantive educational interaction between students and their classroom instructors, including low-income students and students with disabilities, which may include assistive technology or adaptive equipment.
- Providing mental health services and supports.
- Planning and implementing activities related to summer learning and supplemental afterschool programs, including providing classroom instruction or online learning during the summer months and addressing the needs of low-income students, students with disabilities, English learners, migrant students, students experiencing homelessness and children in foster care.
- Other activities that are necessary to maintain the operation of and continuity of services in the LEA.
You can view the allowable uses as they are written in the law here.
B) The GEER Funds
Wisconsin’s share is $45.6 million. GEER funds are block grants to states totally controlled by the Governor. It covers K-college. The K-12 funds will flow from the state to public school districts and on to private schools.
Public school districts must provide equitable services to students and teachers in private schools located within the district. Public districts must engage private schools in timely and meaningful consultation.
WCRIS has asked Governor Evers to provide a proportional share of funding to private school students from the federal GEER Funds.
Resources
- PowerPoint Overview of the CARES Act: A helpful PowerPoint on the Families First Coronavirus Response Act and the CARES Act comes from a fellow-CAPE member, the National Association of Independent Schools (3/27/20).
- Payroll Relief for Your School Staff: Federal loans you’ve been hearing about that don’t need to be paid back. The new federal CARES Act provides forgivable loans for payroll. Here is the best analysis of the program that WCRIS has seen. It can help you determine if you want to apply for this federal aide, and how to do it. The article comes recommended by our state counterparts from the Council for American Private Education (CAPE).
- Guidance from the US Catholic Bishops Legal Counsel
- Small Business Administration Rules:
Thursday, April 2: The Small Business Administration (SBA) published its first Interim Final Rule on the CARES Act’s Paycheck Protection Program.
Friday, April 3: Shortly before midnight, the SBA released a second Interim Final Rule that addresses religious liberty concerns related to the PPP. - DPI’s Update to School Districts: Information about the CARES Act can be found at the bottom of the update.
Other Emergency Funding Options
Please note that some of the deadlines for the following programs have expired.
A) Federal Aid
Congress has passed several federal aid packages to address COVID-19:
- On March 6, Congress passed and President Trump signed into law a nearly $8 billion emergency funding measure for government entities. This measure is intended to develop and purchase vaccines, medical supplies and products, as well as provide state and local governments with preparedness grants, training and other forms of assistance.
- On March 18, 2020, President Trump signed The Families First Coronavirus Act. It was introduced in Congress on March 11, 2020. Primers on the law are available from these reputable sources:
• Another summary in laymen’s terms is available from Jackson Lewis, which has specialized in labor law since 1958
• A legislative summary from from the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI), whose schools are members of WCRIS. - Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act – Signed March 27, 2020:
The federal CARES act providing $2 Trillion in financial relief to help manage the impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic, was signed by President Trump on Friday, March 27. The law also contains the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which ran out of money in its first iteration (4/16/20). - The President signed a fourth bill on April 24, 2020, providing $484 billion in aid for hospitals and health care workers and increased funding for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) for small businesses, including private schools.
- Emergency Aid for Non-Public Schools (EANS) I and II. See here for more information.
B) State Aid
The Wisconsin Legislature has not passed any laws providing emergency aid. WCRIS is monitoring their work and advocating for equity and inclusion for K-12 private schools.
The Governor’s Executive order #7, however, allows the Department of Work Force Development (WFD) to make changes to unemployment benefits.
Information about unemployment and COVID-19 can be found on the WFD website here.
Resources
- A helpful PowerPoint on the Families First Coronavirus Response Act and the CARES Act comes from a fellow-CAPE member, the National Association of Independent Schools (3/27/20).
- The Association of Christian Schools International, which has several schools in WCRIS, has created a Legal Resource webpage with excellent summaries and guides on the impact of the federal Coronavirus aid packages that have been signed into law as of March 30, 2020. ACSI is also a member of CAPE.
- Small Business Administration Rules:
Thursday, April 2: The Small Business Administration (SBA) published its first Interim Final Rule on the CARES Act’s Paycheck Protection Program.
Friday, April 3: Shortly before midnight, the SBA released a second Interim Final Rule that addresses religious liberty concerns related to the PPP.
