2/14/23

The Virginia Senate is considering a bill that would require commonwealth school systems to either use or lose pandemic relief funds.

House Bill 2269 would set a deadline of July 1st for school divisions to burn through their relief funding. Otherwise, the money would be forfeited back to the state. It passed the House on a 53-46 vote.

School divisions holding on to more than 20 percent of their initial award would need to return the money to the Department of Education by July 15th, who would then redistribute that funding to other schools.

According to V-D-E, four of the state’s largest school systems are holding on to over 100 million dollars in relief funding.