Federal relief equals half of school-year budget deficit

It helps, but it doesn't solve the problem. The latest round of federal relief aid is equal to about half of this year's school budget deficit.

The $900 billion relief bill passed by Congress and signed into law by the president at the end of December included $54 billion to be distributed nationwide to help K-12 schools reopen and assist with additional expenses and lost revenues due to the pandemic.

Of that $54 billion, the Alaska Department of Education received almost $144 million that it has allocated to 55 school districts statewide.

Wrangell's share of the money is $284,181, according t...