The third federal aid bill includes $30.75 billion for an education stabilization fund that will be split among states, elementary and secondary schools, and higher education institutions.

This includes:

• $3.0 billion for emergency education relief grants to states. Governors will award funds to local educational agencies and higher education institutions that “have been most significantly impacted by coronavirus.”
• $13.5 billion for emergency relief grants to elementary and secondary schools (including charter schools). The funds may be used for various purposes (see p. 286 of the bill), including response to coronavirus, activities to address needs for low-income children, purchasing educational technology, and “other activities that are necessary to maintain the operation of and continuity of services in local educational agencies and continuing to employ existing staff of the local educational agency.”
• $14.2 billion for a higher education emergency relief fund. Funds will be used for “needs directly related to coronavirus,” including “to defray expenses (including lost revenue, reimbursement for expenses already incurred, technology costs associated with a transition to distance education, faculty and staff trainings, payroll) incurred by institutions of higher education and for grants to students for any component of the student’s cost of attendance.” Additionally, at least 50 percent of the funds must be used for emergency financial aid grants to students.

The bill specifies that in applying for these funds, states must provide assurances that they will maintain their support for K–12 education and higher education (including state funding and financial aid) in FY 2020 and 2021 at a level that is at least the average of state funding in the three previous years. (However, the bill also allows this requirement to be waived “for the purpose of relieving fiscal burdens on States that have experienced a precipitous decline in financial resources.”)

These funds will be apportioned to the states based on school enrollment and school-aged population. It’s not clear how much of the $30.75 billion will come to schools in Washington. (In response to the Great Recession, Washington’s public schools received $1.326 billion and Washington’s public higher education institutions received $100.7 million in federal stimulus dollars.)

(More on the federal aid bill here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.)