What the CARES Act Actually Did for K-12 Schools
The CARES Act, signed in March 2020, sent about $13.2 billion directly to K-12 schools through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, plus $3 billion in governor-directed relief. It also waived several ESSA testing and Title I requirements. Congress followed with two more rounds of school funding before pandemic relief wound down in 2024.
Schools spent the spring of 2020 scrambling to move classrooms online, and Congress responded with the CARES Act: a $2.2 trillion relief package that set aside roughly $30.75 billion for education. Most of that money is long since spent, but how it was moved and what came after it still shapes how districts plan for the next emergency.
What the CARES Act Sent to K-12 Schools
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (H.R. 748) earmarked $30.75 billion for education through the Education Stabilization Fund, split across a few streams. The largest was the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESERF), which sent about $13.2 billion to states based on their existing Title I shares for high-poverty schools. States had to sub-allocate at least 90 percent of that money to individual districts, though once it reached a district, it could go to any school regardless of that school's own Title I status.
A second stream, the Governor's Emergency Education Relief Fund (GEERF), gave governors $3 billion to distribute at their own discretion across K-12 and higher education, split 60 percent based on each state's relative population ages 5 to 24 and 40 percent based on its relative number of children counted under ESEA Section 1124(c). Smaller pools went to states with the heaviest COVID-19 burden, to the Bureau of Indian Education, and to federal outlying areas. CARES Act recipients were directed, to the greatest extent practicable, to continue paying employees and contractors during coronavirus-related disruptions or closures.
What Schools Could Actually Do With the Money
ESERF funds came with a list of twelve approved uses, and most districts drew from a handful of them: buying laptops and hotspots for remote learning, sanitization supplies, mental health services, coordination with local health departments, and summer or after-school programming to make up lost time. Districts could also apply the money toward planning for long-term closures, meal service, and continued professional development.
Alongside the funding, the Secretary of Education could grant waivers under the Every Student Succeeds Act, relieving states of standardized testing and accountability requirements for the 2019-2020 school year. Districts also gained flexibility to carry over unspent Title I funds into the next school year and to waive the technology purchase limits under Title IV-A. States had to apply to the U.S. Department of Education for their share, and state departments of education then administered the funds to individual districts.
The Relief Packages That Followed CARES
CARES turned out to be the first of three rounds, not the last. Congress added about $54 billion for K-12 schools in the December 2020 relief package (often called ESSER II), then followed with roughly $122 billion through the American Rescue Plan in March 2021 (ESSER III). Combined with the original CARES funding, that put total federal pandemic relief for K-12 education at close to $190 billion, the largest one-time federal investment in K-12 education on record.
All three rounds came with obligation deadlines, though not the same one. The original CARES Act funding had to be obligated by September 30, 2022, ESSER II by September 30, 2023, and the American Rescue Plan's ESSER III by September 30, 2024. Districts could liquidate already-committed spending for a period after each deadline, and some approved extensions ran well beyond that.
What the CARES Act Response Revealed
The rollout exposed problems that predated the pandemic. Tying ESERF allocations to existing Title I shares meant the formula reflected pre-pandemic poverty patterns, not which communities were actually hit hardest by 2020's sudden unemployment. Connectivity funding fell well short of what districts needed, too: the CARES Act itself included no dedicated broadband or device fund, and lawmakers only later proposed billions in supplemental E-Rate support as the scale of the home connectivity gap became clear. In the meantime, many districts patched the gap with loaner laptops and whatever internet access they could piece together.
The bigger lesson for teachers who lived through it is less about the dollar figures and more about the timeline. Emergency education funding moves through state departments of education on their own schedule, not the emergency's schedule, and a district's ability to act fast during a crisis often has less to do with the size of a federal package than with how quickly its state can turn an application around.
Frequently Asked Questions
What was the CARES Act's Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund?
ESERF was the main K-12 funding stream in the CARES Act, sending about $13.2 billion to states based on their Title I shares for high-poverty schools. States had to pass on at least 90 percent of it to individual school districts.
How much CARES Act money went to K-12 schools overall?
K-12 schools had dedicated access to about $13.2 billion through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund. On top of that, governors controlled another $3 billion through the Governor's Emergency Education Relief Fund, which they could direct across K-12, higher education, and other education needs, so not all of it necessarily landed in K-12 budgets.
Did more federal COVID relief funding come after the CARES Act?
Yes. Congress added about $54 billion for K-12 schools in December 2020 and roughly $122 billion more through the American Rescue Plan in March 2021, bringing total pandemic-era federal K-12 relief to close to $190 billion.
When did CARES Act school funding have to be spent?
The original CARES Act money had to be obligated by September 30, 2022. The two funding rounds that followed had later deadlines of their own: September 30, 2023, for ESSER II, and September 30, 2024, for the American Rescue Plan's ESSER III. States could liquidate already-committed spending for a period after each deadline.
Did CARES Act funds come with any strings attached for districts?
Some. Recipients were directed, to the greatest extent practicable, to keep paying employees and contractors through coronavirus-related disruptions and closures. States also had to apply for the money through the U.S. Department of Education before it could reach a district.
- CARES Act sent about $13.2 billion directly to K-12 schools - through ESERF, with governors controlling another $3 billion in GEERF money that could also reach higher education.
- Recipients had to keep paying staff where practicable - CARES directed districts to continue paying employees and contractors through coronavirus-related disruptions and closures, to the greatest extent practicable.
- CARES was the first of three rounds - ESSER II in December 2020 and the American Rescue Plan's ESSER III in March 2021 brought total pandemic K-12 relief to close to $190 billion.
- Each ESSER round had its own deadline - September 30, 2022, for CARES funding; 2023 for ESSER II; and 2024 for ESSER III - each with a subsequent liquidation window.
Emergency funding rounds like this one come and go, but the staffing and certification decisions districts made during that stretch are still playing out in classrooms today. If you're weighing a path into teaching or an additional credential now, the sponsored programs on this page include online formats built for people already working.
- What the CARES Act Actually Did for K-12 Schools - April 20, 2020
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