Pandemic Resource Allocation and the Spending Priorities of School Leaders

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress invested $190 billion in public schools through three waves of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) grants. However, there is limited research on how school districts spent pandemic aid and how education leaders prioritized these resources to achieve strategic goals. In this research note, we present evidence on how principals strategically allocated ESSER II funding to address learning interruptions and the needs of students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our analysis leveraged school-level budget data, including detailed expenditure items, from a large urban school district in the U.S. South, supplemented by qualitative interviews with principals. We find that principals devoted most of their federal relief aid to staffing, with a notable increase in instructional coaches compared to before the pandemic. This finding suggests that principals prioritized the improvement of teaching and learning amidst significant challenges and uncertainties caused by the pandemic and indicates a potential area for ongoing investment in schools.