Federal reversal reopens access to COVID relief funds for Selma schools, others

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Selma City Schools may still receive the full $4 million in federal pandemic relief funding it lost access to earlier this year, after the U.S. Department of Education reversed course on a March 28 decision that had halted the disbursement of remaining funds.

The change allows the reimbursement process to resume while a lawsuit challenging the department’s decision moves forward.

“We are relieved with this news,” Selma Superintendent David Scott told Alabama Daily News. “It will be spent on the construction of the School of Discovery, as originally intended.”

Separately, state officials said about $2 million of Alabama’s remaining ESSER funds had been earmarked for middle-grade reading initiatives. Some other Alabama school systems will also be able to receive smaller amounts of money.

In a June 26 letter to state education chiefs, U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon acknowledged that a federal judge’s order – issued in a lawsuit challenging the March decision to revoke extensions – had created “uniformity and fairness problems” across states.

Sixteen states and the District of Columbia sued to block the department’s directive. On May 6, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York barred the department from enforcing that policy against the plaintiffs, allowing them to continue operating under the previous rules.

But in states not part of the lawsuit – such as Alabama – the funds remained inaccessible.

McMahon’s June 26 letter, addressed to states outside the litigation, states:

“The ongoing litigation has created basic fairness and uniformity problems – many states, such as yours, have continued to be covered by the March 28 policy, while the plaintiffs in the New York litigation have not been subject to that policy due to events in the litigation.”

The letter says the department will now revert to the rules in place prior to the directive, allowing states like Alabama to access their funding while litigation is ongoing.

The final deadline for the extension under the previous rules is March 26, 2026.

Statewide, when access to funding initially ended in March, about $11 million in federal funding remained unspent – less than 1% of the $2 billion Alabama received through the American Rescue Plan Act. That money came through the third round of the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, or ESSER III.

Although districts were required to obligate their ESSER III funds by Sept. 30, 2024, if a state was granted an extension, they got additional time to spend the money and submit for reimbursement.

According to the state’s COVID funding dashboard, nearly every Alabama school district used at least 95% of its allocation within the federal timeframe. But not every dollar was spent. Of the $11 million left on the table, more than a third came from Selma City schools.

Eight districts left between $298,000 and $2 million unspent, according to the state’s dashboard:

• Dallas County – $2 million
• Hoover City – $894,000
• Elba City – $745,00
• Shelby County – $586,000
• Birmingham City – $534,000
• Linden City – $414,000
• Opelika City – $351,000
• Midfield City – $298,000

Eighteen other districts left $200,000 or less unspent. The remaining 135 school districts, which includes some charter schools, spent 100% of their funding.

This story is from alabamadailynews.com.