Congress passed more than $190 billion in aid for schools in 2020 and 2021, called the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, or ESSER for short. “I think [it's] six times as large as the federal funding has typically been, so it’s a large influx of funds for these schools, which the schools have used very creatively to build programs. A school district in Arlington, Texas announced plans to cut more than 250 positions at the end of the school year.