FL Only State Not To Apply For Billions In School Relief

Florida Politics reports:

Gov. Ron DeSantis is taking heat from Democrats for making Florida the only state in the country not to apply for billions in relief for school districts to help students impacted by the pandemic. Florida was cleared to receive more than $7 billion from the American Rescue Plan Act for programs to support student health and safety and address social, academic and mental health needs in response to the pandemic.

The DeSantis administration has left $2.3 billion of that sitting on the table for months because it hasn’t yet submitted a plan for the remaining funds, according to Ian Rosenblum, deputy assistant secretary for policy and programs at the U.S. Department of Education. The plan was due June 7, Rosenblum told Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran in a Monday letter.

Read the full article. Late last month Florida finally applied for $820 million in federal food aid for children, but only after DeSantis took weeks of heat from all sides for leaving the money untouched.

@GovRonDeSantis bashed for not tapping $2.3B for schools

By @JesseSchecknerhttps://t.co/JuQqKizJG2#FlaPol pic.twitter.com/dSNshe3XnL

— Florida Politics (@Fla_Pol) October 5, 2021