GEER Fund

 

The purpose of the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) Fund is to provide additional support to K-12 and Higher Education institutions that have been most significantly impacted by COVID-19. Funds received through GEER would generally supplement funds received by impacted institutions through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) and Higher Education Emergency Relief (HEER) Funds.

 

 

Important Notes:

• GEER Funds cannot be used by states to replace state aid
•  Education entities have broad discretion to determine the use of the emergency aid

 

A portion of GEER Funds must be used to provide emergency grants for K-12 LEAs that have been the most impacted by COVID-19.  ADE is tasked with determining indicators to identify which LEAs have been most significantly impacted by COVID-19

The following are indicators that are being considered to help determine LEAs that have been "most significantly impacted" by COVID-19:

Tribal Communities

• Source: Tribal data
• Challenges: Tribal data may be incomplete due to challenges in availability of data from tribal communities

LEA Ability to Support Online Learning

• Source: Arizona Commerce Authority Broadband Office, LEA Survey Data
• Local broadband infrastructure, broadband service availability, student access to internet services

COVID-19 Data

• Source: State and County public health data
• High COVID-19 cases per capita

Additional indicators that may be considered are family food insecurity (High percentage of families receiving NSLP/SNAP nutrition benefits), unemployment (High percentage of families unemployed due to COVID-19) and LEA demographics data (High percentages of low-income students, children with disabilities, English learners, racial and ethnic minorities, students experiencing homelessness, and foster care youth).