Senator Lummis Cosponsors Bill to Mitigate Learning Loss Due to COVID

U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) cosponsored Senator Tim Scott’s (R-SC) Raising Expectations with Child Opportunity Vouchers for Educational Recovery Act. The RECOVER Act would  empower parents to take action to solve the learning loss crisis that students are experiencing after months of COVID lockdowns and school interruptions. Lummis said while Wyoming quickly reopened schools, the interruptions in the school schedules will continue to impact children’s development for years to come. She said the legislation will help mitigate those effects by repurposing COVID funds for intervention programs.

As of May of this year, states and school districts had yet to spend 93 percent of allocated education funding from the American Rescue Plan Act. The RECOVER bill would allow states and school districts to use those unspent funds to issue Child Opportunity Scholarships directly to parents. The scholarships are targeted at low-income families and can be put toward tutoring services, private school tuition, books and other curriculum, testing fees, and educational therapies for children with disabilities.