By LeiLani Cauthen

First there was the CARES Act, which is still not entirely spent out. Many areas of the country who didn’t get their allocation spent up by the end of 2020 got extensions. 

The CARES Act was close to $34 billion for schools, with at least $13.5 billion just for K12. Then came CARES Act 2, which gave another $82 Billion for schools. “Of that, $54 billion will go to pre-K-12 schools — about quadruple the $13.5 billion set aside for schools in the CARES Act funding last spring,” according to EdSource. The package passed in mid-December with a Senate vote of 92-6. 

Another $1.9 trillion relief package is in the works and includes another $170 billion for schools. All told these are massive upticks in K12 overall revenue. 

Meanwhile, EdTech spend up-ticked in 2020 by $7.5 billion, the largest single jump on record.  $4.5 billion of this was for computing and networking hardware. Another $900 million in major software systems. Another $2.1 billion up-tick in curriculum software was spent.

In 2021, the Learning Counsel predictions of another uptick in hardware and major systems of $400 million, and an uptick in digital curriculum of $2 billion seems possibly overly conservative. 

The first CARES Act drove these initial big jumps and the already-passed CARES Act 2 is four times the money for K12. Since schools averaged a loss of students between 3.6 percent and 15 percent, this is a lot more money per student as well, provided the states go along with allocations in that way. 

Its further expected that schools and districts will work towards new levels of logistical management for students who want to remain remote or some form of flexible hybrid affiliation. The innovation will be in overdrive for how schools address what they need to in hopes of remaining relevant through EdTech. 

About the Author

LeiLani Cauthen is the CEO and Publisher of The Learning Counsel. She is well versed in the digital content universe, software development, the adoption process, school coverage models, and helping define this century’s real change to teaching and learning.  She is an author and media personality with twenty years of research, news media publishing and market leadership in the high tech, education and government industries.