In addition to the Coronavirus Relief Fund, the CARES Act provided relief funds for higher education and K–12 schools. Washington’s allocations are:

• $216.9 million for elementary and secondary schools. Of, that districts received $195.2 million. The rest went to the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI). Earlier this month, the Office of Financial Management (OFM) announced that $8.8 million of the OSPI portion will be used for internet access and $8.1 million will be used for “competitive grants to community-based organizations . . . to support student learning.”
• $185.3 million for public institutions of higher education (plus more for private institutions). Of the $185.3 million, half ($92.7 million) must be used for student financial aid.
• $56.8 million for the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund (GEER). This fund gives governors the flexibility to allocate funds to either K–12 schools or higher education institutions.

OFM has decided to use Washington’s GEER funds solely for higher education. The determination was made because after schools were closed in March, higher education “was significantly impacted by tuition revenue decreases from enrollment declines,” while K–12 schools “continued to receive their full state funding.”

Allocations of GEER funds have been made to the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, Western Washington University, Eastern Washington University, Washington State University, the Evergreen State College, and Central Washington University. The amounts are shown in the table below. After making these allocations, there is $1.9 million left of the GEER funding (note that OFM has not announced any allocations for the University of Washington).