WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer’s (MO-03) amendment to create equal distribution of federal funding for the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund was blocked by House Democrats. Congressman Luetkemeyer proposed this amendment in an effort to ensure all school districts have the necessary funding to safely return to full time, in-person learning.

 “Under the current funding formula, the federal government is providing $163.17 for the health and safety of a student in Wentzville while Seymore is receiving $6,387.72 per child. Blair Oaks gets $77.47 per child but Kansas City gets $1,924.39. The formula being used was not developed to distribute covid relief and using it in this way is showing unacceptable disparities that value the safety of one child at a fraction of another. If this is actually about student and teacher health, safely reopening schools, and finally putting the pandemic behind us, we wouldn’t be favoring certain children over others.”