KY gets $2.1 billion for reopening schools. Lawmakers, not districts, could manage it.

Kentucky is getting $2.1 billion from the new federal American Rescue Plan to reopen schools shut down by the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. Department of Education officials said this week.

But Education Commissioner Jason Glass is concerned that a bill approved by the Kentucky General Assembly and now in the hands of Gov. Andy Beshear could affect who decides how the money is spent, with decisions made by lawmakers instead of school district officials.

“Congress intended the vast majority of these funds to flow directly to school districts so they could decide how best to use them to alleviate costs incurred due to COVID and to take steps in creating learning experiences for students to make up for what they missed out on this past year,” Glass said.

With House Bill 405, he said, “it appears that the General Assembly wishes to intervene and manage those decisions. We hope the legislature will listen to their local school leaders and also stay within federal law as they determine the uses of these funds.”

House Bill 405, sponsored by state Rep. Ken Fleming R-Louisville, says that If any of the federal funds are allotted, expended or appropriated without the permission of the General Assembly, the Governor’s Office of the Budget Director would have to forfeit $902,200 into the state’s budget reserve trust fund. The state education department opposes the bill.

The Kentucky Department of Education is still determining school district allocations, but department spokeswoman Toni Konz Tatman said how funds are allotted could be dependent on what happens with House Bill 405. Fleming did not immediately comment Thursday.

Gov. Andy Beshear’s spokeswoman Crystal Staley did not say Thursday whether he would veto the bill.

“The Governor’s Office received 111 bills from the General Assembly on Monday and Tuesday alone and now has 148 bills for consideration,” she said. “Some of those bills have substantial amendments and substitutes. Gov. Beshear and his team will review each bill over the next 10 days, decide what is in the best interest of Kentuckians and act accordingly.”

U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a news release that the total $122 billion that will be distributed in the United States would allow schools “to get students back in the classroom and stay there” and to help students disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.

The funds can be used to improve ventilation in classrooms, to buy personal protection equipment, to avoid layoffs and hire more educators and to help the hardest hit students with academic and mental health needs. The money can also pay for summer school and after school programs and technology, among other initiatives, federal officials said.

This story was originally published March 18, 2021 at 4:14 PM.