Journal Article

Estimated Resource Costs for Implementation of CDC’s Recommended COVID-19 Mitigation Strategies in Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 12 Public Schools — United States, 2020–21 School Year

Rice, Ketra L., Miller, Gabrielle F., Coronado, Fátima, Meltzer, Martin I.

2020

Overview

As school districts across the United States consider how to safely operate during the 2020-21 academic year, CDC recommends mitigation strategies that schools can adopt to reduce the risk for transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) (1). To identify the resources and costs needed to implement school-based mitigation strategies and provide schools and jurisdictions with information to aid resource allocation, a microcosting methodology was employed to estimate costs in three categories: materials and consumables, additional custodial staff members, and potential additional transportation. National average estimates, using the national pre-kindergarten through grade 12 (preK-12) public enrollment of 50,685,567 students, range between a mean of $55 (materials and consumables only) to $442 (all three categories) per student. State-by-state estimates of additional funds needed as a percentage of fiscal year 2018 student expenditures (2) range from an additional 0.3% (materials and consumables only) to 7.1% (all three categories); however, only seven states had a maximum estimate above 4.2%. These estimates, although not exhaustive, highlight the level of resources needed to ensure that schools reopen and remain open in the safest possible manner and offer administrators at schools and school districts and other decision-makers the cost information necessary to budget and prioritize school resources during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Publisher: U.S. Center for Disease Control,Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Subject: Adolescent / Budgets / Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S / Child / Child, Preschool / Contact tracing / Coronaviruses / Cost estimates / Costs / Costs and Cost Analysis / COVID-19 / COVID-19 - epidemiology / COVID-19 - prevention & control / Custodians / Decision makers / Disease transmission / Enrollments / Expenditures / Full Report / Health Resources - economics / Humans / Implementation / Kindergarten / Learning / Medical decision making / Mitigation / Pandemics / Public health / Public schools / Risk reduction / School districts / Schools / Schools - economics / Schools - statistics & numerical data / Secondary education / Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 / Social distancing / Strategies / Students / United States - epidemiology