COVID-19 Relief Bill Allocates $100 Million to IES for Research Addressing Learning Loss

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill titled H.R.1319 – American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package that would appropriate funds for education-related programs, including $100 million for the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) for education grants to carry out research related to addressing learning loss caused by the coronavirus. The Senate has passed its version which maintains this funding and language. The bill must now return to the House for a final vote before being signed into law.

TITLE II—Committee on Education and Labor, Subtitle A—Education Matters

PART 1—Department of Education, Sec. 2010. Institute of Education Sciences states the following:

In addition to amounts otherwise available, there is appropriated to the Department of Education for fiscal year 2021, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, $100,000,000, to remain available through September 30, 2023, for the Institute of Education Sciences to carry out research related to addressing learning loss caused by the coronavirus among the student subgroups described in section 1111(b)(2)(xi) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6311(b)(2)(xi)) and students experiencing homelessness and children and youth in foster care, and to disseminate such findings to State educational agencies and local educational agencies and other appropriate entities.