The American Rescue Plan Act has made funds available to states and districts to speed up recovery from the effects of COVID-19, including addressing learning loss.

Wallace filed a comment letter on the Proposed Priorities and Definitions: Secretary’s Supplemental Priorities and Definitions for Discretionary Grants Programs intended to guide districts in prioritizing use of the funds.

Wallace recommended that the Department use the words “teachers, principals and other school leaders” throughout the proposed priorities in place of the term “educators”—​language that is consistent with the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and subsequent Department regulations and guidance.

Wallace noted that such a change would make clear that “investing in improved principal effectiveness is a permissible use of funding, something which state and local officials might not conclude from use of the more general term ‘educators.’ “