Education Week - April 14, 2021 - 9

School districts in both Michigan and North Carolina have struggled since the Great Recession to
rebuild the savings they use for emergencies. Education Week looked at ˡscal year data from both
states on how much school districts had in their fund balance accounts, also known as " rainy day "
funds.‫ژ‬

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30

5

20

3.33

10

1.67

0

Savings in dollars (in billions)

Savings as percent of annual spending

Michigan

0
2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

Savings as percent of annual spending

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

Savings in dollars (in billions)

SOURCE: Michigan Department of Education

40

5.33

30

4

20

2.67

10

1.33

Savings in dollars (in billions)

Savings as percent of annual spending

North Carolina

0

0
2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

Savings as percent of annual spending

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

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Savings in dollars (in billions)

NOTE: Percentage
school
year
was
notnot
made
available
by the
Carolina
Department
of State
NOTE:
Percentagedata
datefor
forthe
the2011
2011
school
year
was
made
available
by North
The North
Carolina
Department
ofTreasury
State Treasury

SOURCE: North Carolina Department of State Treasury

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Friday, April 16, 2021 6-7 PM ET
edw.link/MathGateway
GUESTS
ٚROBERT Q. BERRY, Professor of Mathematics
Education and Associate Dean of Diversity,
Equity and Inclusion, University of Virginia
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ٚLACEY ROBINSON, Chief Executive
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ٚESTELA LOPEZ, Principal, Dolores Huerta
Elementary School, Los Angeles

School districts have saved far less in their rainy day funds than city and county governments in
recent years. Here's the percentage of annual spending they've been stashing away by ˡscal year,
based on a sampling of local governments across the country by Moody's Investors Service.‫ژ‬
40

Percent

30

30.3

31.3

32.5

35.5
33.8 34.7

33.8 34.3
32.6 33.1 32.3 32.6

22.6 23
21.3 21.1 21.2 22

20

10

0
City

County

2013

2014

2015

2016

School District

2017

2018

SOURCE: Moody's Investors Service

Stress is
natural
normal
something to learn from.

package recently signed into law that
includes nearly $130 billion in relief
targeted to states and districts.
But for those heavily reliant on
state revenue and with little money
saved up, that federal aid could
just end up filling holes caused by
state budget cuts. Meanwhile, their
pandemic-driven needs continue to
weigh heavily.
In Greene County, for example,
half the district's students have decided to attend school in-person this
year. But Miller knows many of the
students that are still remote have
disengaged. He wants to spend at
least some of his federal aid money
on summer school. He estimates it'll
cost around $90,000 just to get the

kids to and from school and tens of
thousands of dollars to pay teachers
and reopen buildings.
Thanks to the federal stimulus
aid so far, Miller expects the district for the first time to have saved
$500,000 in its rainy day fund.
That's just half what the district had
in savings a decade ago, but enough
to satisfy auditors who have been
hounding the district for years to try
to cut and save to better prepare for
an emergency.
" I'm cautiously optimistic, that
we're going to be OK, " Miller said. 
This story was produced with support
from the Education Writers Association
Reporting Fellowship program.

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Education Week - April 14, 2021

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