LA Schools Receive $6 Billion In COVID Emergency Funding

By By Elyse Apel | The Center Square, The Center Square California

June 27, 2022

(The Center Square) – Despite dropping enrollment, the Los Angeles Unified School District is getting the most money its ever had with the aid of more than $4.8 billion in emergency COVID-19 funding from the federal government. The district stated they are also receiving an additional $1.2 billion in COVID-19 related state funding pushing its total emergency related money to $6.0 billion. The district stated it has until September 2024 to spend the COVID-related money.

The L.A. Unified school district is the largest school district in California and the second largest in the United States, with over 1,400 schools and centers.

Enrollment has fallen significantly, from 661,653 in the 2016-2017 school year to 589,601 in the 2020-2021 school year. However, total revenues have increased from $7.3 billion in 2017-18 to a projected $11.8 billion in 2021-22.

With the increase in money, both from state and federal, the California K-12 school system, and the school district has reached record-high levels of funding.

In the 2016-2017 school year, the school district received $615.15 million in federal funding, or $929 per student.

In the 2020-2021 school year, that went up to $2,858 per student, or $1.69 billion received in the school district in federal funding.

The entire state of Rhode Island spends $2.76 billion a year on K-12 education in the state.

The focus of the work of The Center Square California is state and local-level government and economic reporting that approaches stories with a taxpayer sensibility.