MACON, Ga. — With Bibb County Schools getting $106 million thanks to the American Rescue Plan, Superintendent Curtis Jones says their focus is to create a better environment and schools for the students.
"Our current belief is we need to start implementing it by July 1, and have it available and spent by the end of September 30 of 2023," he says.
For superintendent Curtis Jones, plans for the federal funding are in the early stages.
"We see the opportunity to have what we call summer camps for students, not to go to summer school, but to do summer camp so they can improve their learning in ways that we haven't been able to do in the past," says Jones.
Bibb County is getting the most funding of all Central Georgia school districts.
The next largest chunks are the $49 million going to Houston County Schools,
$18 million going to Baldwin County Schools, and $14 million to Laurens County Schools.
Jones says they plan to give some of the money to individual schools depending on needs laid out by the principals.
"Some of the money will be kept at the district level as well. So we can address social emotional learning for students to help them deal with the stresses that have been put in place," says Jones.
Jones says the COVID-19 pandemic has been a challenge for staff and students, but the federal funding can help get back some of the time lost.
"At the end of the day, we want to be able to accelerate learning and make sure students can still go to college, join the military, get employed, and make this past year something they can forget about and see the silver lining at the end," Jones says.
He says from now until July, district leaders will be drawing up a more in-depth plan for the spending.