K-12 EDUCATION - Lessons Learned from Implementing COVID-19 Relief Funding Provisions Could Improve Future Grant Monitoring

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Bintang

GAO analyzes how the U.S. Department of Education supported states and districts in complying with Statutory Maintenance of Equity (MOEquity) requirements tied to COVID-19 relief funding. Findings show Education provided guidance and technical assistance but lacked internal written procedures, limiting consistent information and weakening oversight, especially amid staff turnover. GAO identifies data reliability gaps and implementation challenges in selected states and districts, and issues recommendations to improve technical assistance documentation, grant data reliability, and knowledge sharing of key lessons learned.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages37

Reading Time1 h 33 min

AccessFree to download

Background

Education Provided Guidance to States, but Lacked Written Internal Procedures to Assure It Applied Its Guidance Consistently

Districts Generally Identified Their High-Poverty Schools in Six Selected States, and Education Lacks Reliable Data on State-Level MOEquity Implementation

Officials in Seven States Experienced Similar Challenges Implementing MOEquity Requirements, and Education Did Not Document Lessons Learned

Conclusions

Recommendations for Executive Action

United States Government Accountability Office Report to Congressional Requesters January 2026 K-12 EDUCATION Lessons Learned from Implementing COVID- 19 Relief Funding Provisions Could Improve Future Grant Monitoring Highlights K-12 EDUCATION Lessons Learned from Implementing COVID-19 Relief Funding Provisions Could Improve Future Grant Monitoring GAO-26-107727 January 2026 A report to congressional requesters For more information, contact: Jacqueline M. Nowicki at [nowickij@gao.gov](nowickij@gao.gov). What GAO Found Statutory Maintenance of Equity (MOEquity) requirements generally prohibited states and districts from disproportionately cutting funds from districts or schools serving high percentages of low-income students. Beginning in July 2021, the Department of Education provided guidance and technical assistance to help states and districts meet these requirements as part of receiving certain COVID-19 relief funding. Education officials said they developed and refined this guidance in real time. As a result, the agency did not develop internal written procedures for its staff to use when providing related technical assistance. Federal oversight and performance principles and practices note the importance of internal guidance and written documentation to ensure consistency. Without these, Education could not ensure states received consistent information on implementing MOEquity. Moreover, the risk of inconsistently applying guidance may increase with staff turnover, which Education said occurred during MOEquity implementation. Selected State and District Maintenance of Equity Requirements GAO’s analysis of six states’ data found that districts generally identified their poorest schools; however, Education lacked reliable data on how states implemented the state MOEquity requirements to identify their poorest districts. On average, highpoverty schools had more factors associated with need—for example, free or reduced-price lunch eligibility and students with disabilities—than other schools. However, because MOEquity required schools to be identified by district rather than statewide, MOEquity-identified high-poverty schools in a district were not always the poorest schools in the state. GAO could not determine if states paid appropriate districts or the total amounts paid in supplemental payments because of data reliability issues, such as duplicative or missing data. Education could not explain the data issues or provide documentation of data reliability procedures. Without reliable data, neither GAO nor Education could assess whether MOEquity requirements fully achieved their intended results. Selected states and districts described challenges implementing MOEquity—e.g. , staff capacity issues and limited access to data—and expressed interest in lessons learned, but Education officials said they did not document and share them because the agency does not have procedures ensuring it does so and it was not a priority atthe time. Yet, Education officials noted that MOEquity provided an opportunity to inform how they may handle similar situations going forward. Key practices for effectively managing federal efforts include identifying and applying lessons learned for future decision making. Doing so limits the chance of recurrence of failures or difficulties. Absent a way to ensure Education identifies, documents, and shares lessons learned, insights from such efforts may be limited or lost. Why GAO Did This Study To receive certain funds under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, states and districts generally agreed to not make certain cuts. These include disproportionately cutting funds from districts or schools serving high percentages of economically disadvantaged students for fiscal years 2022 and 2023. GAO was asked to examine MOEquity implementation. This report addresses (1) how Education assisted states and districts in complying with MOEquity requirements; (2) what data sho

FAQs

What is GAO investigating in this report?

GAO examines MOEquity implementation by Education, including how technical assistance supported compliance, what the data show about implementation, and what challenges states and districts faced and what lessons Education learned.

Why does GAO say Education could not ensure consistent MOEquity implementation information?

GAO found Education generally provided guidance and technical assistance but did not develop internal written procedures for staff to use, which limited consistency. GAO also links increased risk to staff turnover during implementation.

What recommendations does GAO make to the Department of Education?

GAO recommends Education develop internal written procedures for technical assistance, establish procedures to ensure data reliability for grant oversight, and create a way to document and share key lessons learned from major grant efforts as appropriate.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Bintang