Key Points
- Recent reports show many of America’s schools spent COVID relief funds on CRT initiatives.
- President Biden gave them $130 billion dollars as part of the American Rescue Plan (ARP).
- The cash was spent on social emotional learning, bias training, diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Do you remember the movie Brewster’s Millions? the 1921 or the 1985 remake? The gist was this: a man is given a large sum of money and must spend every cent without having anything to show for it. I’m reminded of that movie as I see story after story on shuttered schools that can’t afford to reopen because of omicron.
They must have spent the $130 billion in COVID relief —and now have nothing to show for it.
Just like Monte Brewster in the movies.
I remember Biden handing out the money, that’s for sure. His first day in the Oval he delivered the $130 billion in school funding as part of the American Rescue Plan. This, he told us, would “provide schools the resources they need to reopen safely.”
“We can [open schools] if we give school districts, communities, and states the clear guidance they need as well as the resources they will need,” he said.
But now they’re shutting down again.
We’re talking about keeping kids at home. After school activities and sports seasons are canceled. And how are we even discussing the disaster that was remote learning?
The $130 billion dollar question is…where did all the money go? What did they do with it?
“They got the money,” Luke Rosiak of the Daily Wire reports. “Yet this month, schools in numerous districts will be closed, citing an inability to deal with the Omicron variant, despite receiving money that could have gone towards mitigation, protection, and preventative measures.”
Right, so where’d the money go?
“That, it turns out, could be in part due to a bait-and-switch, with money passed into law under the guise of public health being used for racial ideology instead.”
Oh right —I forgot that racism is a public health issue now. It’s actually replacing “health issues” as the number one “health issue” in the United States.
Turns out, the Department of Education suggested the money could be used for a bit of a rebranding strategy. “Rebuilding from COVID-19 is an opportunity,” the DOE said, for a “culture shift” and the “establishment of equitable practices… One example of how a district is using a performance assessment in a culturally and linguistically responsive way is the Chicago Public School’s Curriculum Equity Initiative.”
So…no protective measures, then? Let’s all hope the power of equity can squash COVID.
According to the Daily Wire, Chicago earmarked $32 million of COVID rescue cash for a “comprehensive, culturally responsive curriculum”; Milwaukee spent $24 million on“Social Emotional Learning”; California, $1.5 billion on bias training; and New York focused mainly on diversity, equity and inclusion.
So where does that leave America’s schoolchildren? The same place as Monte Brewster*.
(*Without the surprise big payoff ending, of course.)
