$7 billion dollars of federal funding is being directed to Illinois schools. Those dollars come as the real impact of the pandemic on K through 12 education is being tallied up. Melissa Figueira with Advance Illinois, an education policy organization, says early data they have collected shows a dramatic impact on enrollments over the past year.

Figueira notes even though much was done to overcome educational short falls there is a long way to go to get kids caught back up.