(CAPITOL CITY NOW) – The windfall of money from covid has ended for the nation’s school districts.

University of Illinois Chicago research assistant professor Craig De Voto, who is part of the U of I’s Institute of Government and Public Affairs, says the ESSER (Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief) program was a good one.

“Whereas normally funding funnels to the state level, this one truly went directly to local education agencies,” said De Voto. “And that was a big difference for it. They gave them quite a bit of flexibility on how they spent the money. But a lot of it was spent on instruction, staff salaries, these sorts of things.”

That, says De Voto, increased student performance. But this year districts face the question of what they do now, now that that so-called “money tree” isn’t there anymore.

Illinois’ share of the $200 billion program was about $7.8 billion.

Read De Voto’s report here.