North Cook News

An Illinois state senator is praising the more than $177 million in federal funding that will go to help school districts in her senate district to address COVID-19-related challenges.

State Sen. Laura Murphy (D-Des Plaines) said in a Facebook post that the money will help schools during the coronavirus pandemic.

“Over the past year, teachers and parents have put in thousands of hours of additional effort to keep our kids engaged in learning,” Murphy said on Facebook. “This funding gives schools and students the support they need to make a full recovery after the pandemic.”

The funding mostly comes from the American Rescue Plan, which is the $1.9 trillion coronavirus rescue package, Investopedia said. Illinois will receive over $5 billion through the plan’s Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER III), Carmen Ayala, state superintendent of education, said in the March 23 weekly message.

Ninety percent of the money that Illinois will receive through ESSER III will go to local education agencies (LEAs), Ayala said.

“One important stipulation of the grant is that LEAs must reserve at least 20 percent of the direct allocation to address learning loss through the implementation of evidence-based interventions and to ensure that those interventions respond to students’ social, emotional, and academic needs and address the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on underrepresented student groups,” Ayala said.

Murphy’s district includes the municipalities of Des Plaines, Chicago, Schaumburg, Roselle, Rolling Meadows, Arlington Heights, Elk Grove Village, Hanover Park, Mount Prospect, Hoffman Estates and Park Ridge. 

According to her website, the school districts in her district to receive funds are: School District U-46, $95,027,296; Schaumburg Community Consolidated School District 54, $18,762,224; Community Consolidated School District 59, $12,435,762; Des Plaines Community Consolidated School District 62, $10,129,759; Park Ridge Consolidated Community School District 64, $2,040,685; Maine Township High School District 207, $8,389,466; Keeneyville School District 20, $2,636,287; Lake Park Community High School District 108, $2,333,579; Township High School District 211, $13,400,938 and Township High School District 214, $12,555,363.