(Bloomberg) -- Money from the American Rescue Plan should be used to keep schools open and safe, but also to deal with the learning loss caused by the pandemic, Gene Sperling, senior adviser to President Biden, said in an interview with Bloomberg TV.
“This is not going to be taken care of in a few months, but is an important, negative lingering impact of this pandemic,” said Sperling, who Biden tapped to coordinate spending the funds from the $1.9 trillion relief plan.
Sperling argues that the plan has two main focuses, which is to jump-start strong growth, but also to provide the flexibility to deal with persistent impacts.
Lack of in-person schooling during the pandemic left U.S. students significantly behind, hitting the poorest and minority students especially hard, a report from McKinsey & Co. showed.
“And if you take schools, we’d like to see some of the places accelerate their funds,” he said.
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