Earlier this week, Oklahoma's State Department of Education announced how much of the $1.5 billion individual school districts would receive from the American Rescue Plan.
The state’s more than 500 school districts will each benefit from the record influx of federal money.
The biggest totals will go to Oklahoma City and Tulsa Public Schools. They're getting $164.7 and $130.7 million respectively.
But it’s big money everywhere.
For rural districts like Woodward Public Schools, superintendent Kyle Reynolds told StateImpact earlier this week that the federal influx of $4.4 million represents to his district represents one quarter of the district's annual budget. It's the largest sudden influx Woodward has seen in recent memory.
"That makes a huge impact on our budget and that's shielding us from having to let so many teachers and other staff go this summer," said Reynolds.
Basics like staff retention are important. But Woodward and other schools will all be spending that money on things like summer programming designed to compensate for a calendar year of instability in the classroom.
