Kane County Reporter

The schools in Illinois’ 25th Senate district were granted $173,730,885 toward COVID-19 relief.

The Illinois State Board of Education is providing school officials with a written guide on how best to make use of the funding. 

"I urge our local school districts to use this state-produced guide to help us move forward and provide assistance for students and professional development for teachers who have gone through so much in this last year,” Sen. Karina Villa (D-West Chicago) wrote on her Facebook page. “I’m excited to see how our champions and heroes, our educators, bring our students out of this dark time into a new age.”

The funding will cover required resources for remote learning, including reliable digital connection and technology. Schools can also invest in layoff prevention, emotional support for students, and summer programs. Though a minimum of 20% of the fund must be used to improve learning losses, the American Rescue Plan, set to provide most of the aid, will allow the institutions to decide the factors to which the money will be allocated over the next three and a half years. 

Though schools aren’t required to follow the recommendations and services provided by the state, the guidelines were produced under the consideration of the local district’s best interests to overcome the learning challenges that have arisen since the pandemic was declared.

“Our local teachers, parents and students have learned so much during this pandemic. They’ve learned how to be resilient and have found new tricks and ways to engage classrooms,” Villa said. “The end of the pandemic is in sight, and this funding will help our students and schools move forward.”

 The state has received a total of nearly $7 billion to support its academic system.