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

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.

Approximately 50 million students are enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools in the United States (3); since March 2020, approximately 270,000 cases of COVID-19 have been reported among school-aged children (aged 5–17 years) (4). Although current evidence indicates that the risk for SARS-CoV-2–related hospitalizations and deaths among children is lower than that among adults, the risk for morbidity and mortality posed to teachers and other staff members in the school environment is expected to mirror that of other adults with similar demographic characteristics in the community (5). As school districts across the United States consider how to safely operate schools for the 2020–21 academic year, CDC provides indicators to help local jurisdictions determine the risk associated with operating schools for in-person learning. These indicators include measures of underlying community transmission and a measure of adherence to five primary mitigation strategies (1): 1) consistent and correct use of masks, 2) social distancing to the extent possible, 3) hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette, 4) cleaning and disinfection, and 5) contact tracing in collaboration with the local health department. Other mitigation strategies that can also be used concurrently include cohorting and staggered scheduling (1). In this analysis, the resources needed to implement four of the five key mitigation strategies were identified and costs estimated, with the goal of providing estimates to aid resource allocation to ensure the safe operation of schools and reduce school-based transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Contact tracing, although an essential strategy to reduce transmission, was excluded because those costs are not financed by school district budgets.

A microcosting approach (6) was used to estimate resources and costs associated with implementing the critical CDC-recommended mitigation strategies. This approach involves collecting detailed data on resources needed for each strategy and applying unit costs for those resources. From a school budget perspective, resources needed to implement the four strategies are identified (Supplementary Table, https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/97907), and total costs associated with each resource are estimated. Direct budgetary costs are the focus of this analysis; opportunity costs are excluded. The estimates indicate resources needed in addition to those already allocated in annual school budgets. Costs were aggregated and analyzed nationally and for each state and the District of Columbia (DC). A range is provided for each cost to indicate levels of cost variation around each estimate.

Personnel costs for school custodians were estimated using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.* To account for fringe benefits, annual wages were increased by the state and local government average of 37.8%.^† Labor demand for school custodians was derived from a study of national standards for allocating school custodians that increases the recommended number of custodians from a tier 3 level of cleaning (one custodian per 28,000–31,000 ft²) to a tier 2 level of cleaning (one custodian per 18,000–20,000 ft²) (7). The American Federation of Teachers estimates that tier 2 cleaning is needed for an estimated 10% of targeted physical areas per school (i.e., bathrooms, food service areas, and high-need classrooms, including special needs classes) (8). To allow for variation in school size, ranges of estimates for additional custodial services were estimated. The low estimate used an additional 1.25 full time equivalents (FTEs), and the high estimate used 2.5 FTEs (Supplementary Table, https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/97907) (7). Costs are inflated and reported in 2020 U.S. dollars.^§ Potential additional transportation costs were extrapolated from a report by the American Federation of Teachers that forecasts an estimated 36% national increase in funding needed for school transportation (7). These potential costs assume that some schools would require additional buses, drivers, and protocols to implement social distancing on buses. The 36% national increase was distributed across states and adjusted by states’ past year transportation spending per student (8). Ranges for nonlabor costs for all materials and consumables were obtained from the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Supply Catalog 2020, GSA Advantage Disaster Relief and Pandemic Products online catalog, and through various e-commerce marketplace websites to derive a range of cost estimates across multiple sources and reflect price variability for materials across vendors.^¶ Aggregated material costs were adjusted for each state using the 2020 state-based composite cost of living index.** Average costs per student were calculated using the national preK–12 public student enrollment of 50,685,567 students (3). State-based cost estimates were adjusted based on the number of schools and the total school population within each state. Estimated pandemic-related per-student costs were calculated as a percentage of fiscal year 2018 per-student expenditures as reported by the National Center for Education Statistics (2).

National costs per student range between a mean of $55 (materials and consumables only) to $442 (three categories) (Table 1). The highest cost categories were related to employing additional custodians per school (44.8% of total costs) and potential additional transportation (42.8% of total cost). For state-based estimates, the incremental increase in costs per student for materials and consumables ranges from $47 to $109 per student; implementation of all strategies combined (including high and low projections for additional custodial staff members) range between $204 (Utah) and $912 (DC) (Table 2). Utah’s and DC’s average total costs are lower and higher, respectively, than the national range (Table 1) because of their lower and higher transportation costs per pupil, relative to other states. All other state estimates fall within the national range. Additional funds needed as a percentage of fiscal year 2018 per-student expenditures range from 0.3% (materials and consumables only) to 7.1% (all three categories), although only seven states had a maximum estimate >4.2% (Table 2).

Corresponding author: Ketra Rice, wss1@cdc.gov.

¹CDC COVID-19 Response Team.

References

1. CDC. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) indicators for dynamic school decision-making. Atlanta, GA: US Department of Health and Human Services, CDC; 2020. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/indicators.html
2. National Center for Education Statistics. Revenues and expenditures for public elementary and secondary school districts: FY 18. Washington, DC: US Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics; 2020. https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2020308external icon
3. Hussar B, Zhang J, Hein S, et al. The condition of education 2020. NCES 2020–144. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics; 2020. https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2020/2020144.pdfpdf iconexternal icon
4. Leeb RT, Price S, Sliwa S, et al. COVID-19 trends among school-aged children—United States, March 1–September 19, 2020. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2020;69:1410–5. CrossRefexternal icon PubMedexternal icon
5. Selden TM, Berdahl TA, Fang Z. The risk of severe COVID-19 within households of school employees and school-age children. Health Aff (Millwood) 2020;39:2002–9. CrossRefexternal icon PubMedexternal icon
6. Xu X, Grossetta Nardini HK, Ruger JP. Micro-costing studies in the health and medical literature: protocol for a systematic review. Syst Rev 2014;3:47. CrossRefexternal icon PubMedexternal icon
7. National Forum on Education Statistics. Planning guide for maintaining school facilities. NCES 2003–347. Washington, DC: US Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Forum on Education Statistics; 2003. https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2003/2003347.pdfpdf iconexternal icon
8. American Federation of Teachers. Reopening schools during a time of triple crisis: financial implications. Washington, DC: American Federation of Teachers; 2020. https://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/wysiwyg/reopen-schools-financial-implications.pdfpdf iconexternal icon
9. CDC. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Operating schools during COVID-19: CDC’s considerations. Atlanta, GA: US Department of Health and Human Services, CDC; 2020. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/schools.html

Abbreviations: COVID-19 = coronavirus disease 2019; FTEs = full-time equivalents; USD = U.S. dollars.
* Unit cost is the average cost per resource and the unit cost range are minimum and maximum cost values per resource derived from all material sources, retrieved from U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Global Supply Catalog (https://www.gsaglobalsupply.gsa.gov/advantage/external icon), GSA Advantage Disaster (https://www.gsaadvantage.gov/advantage/external icon) Disaster Relief and Pandemic Products Supply; School Kids Healthcare (https://www.buyemp.com/school-kids-healthcare-transitionexternal icon), School Health (https://www.schoolhealth.comexternal icon), School Nurse Supply (https://www.schoolnursesupplyinc.comexternal icon), and Amazon Marketplace (https://www.amazon.com/s?k=coronavirusexternal icon).
^† Quantity of units for schools and school populations derived from school population fiscal year 2018 data published by the National Center for Education Statistics. https://nces.ed.gov/external icon.
^§ Cost range for materials and consumables adjusted by lowest and highest state composite cost of living index. https://meric.mo.gov/data/cost-living-data-seriesexternal icon.
^¶ Cost for personnel derived from the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage estimates (updated as of May 2019) and are inflation-adjusted to August 2020 USD using the Consumer Price Index (CPI) Databases (https://www.bls.gov/cpi/data.htmexternal icon); all other costs reported in current 2020 USD.
** The high and low estimates for school custodians are 2.5 and 1.25 additional custodian FTEs per school for tier 2 cleaning needed for an estimated 10% of targeted physical areas per school (i.e., bathrooms, food service areas, and high need classrooms, including special needs classes) https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2003/2003347.pdfpdf iconexternal icon; https://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/wysiwyg/reopen-schools-financial-implications.pdfpdf iconexternal icon.
^†† Costs of potential additional transportation, where needed, were estimated assuming that such costs are equivalent to 36% of national costs for student transportation. https://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/wysiwyg/reopen-schools-financial-implications.pdfpdf iconexternal icon.
^§§ Based on national pre-kindergarten–grade 12 public student enrollment of 50,685,567 students. https://nces.ed.gov/external icon.

Abbreviations: avg. = average; COVID-19 = coronavirus disease 2019; est. = estimate; FTEs = full-time equivalents; FY = fiscal year; USD = U.S. dollars.
* Number of schools, number of teachers and staff members, total student enrollment, and FY18 expenditures per student derived from school population FY18 data published by the National Center for Education Statistics. https://nces.ed.gov/external icon.
^† The high and low estimates for school custodians are 2.5 and 1.25 additional custodian FTEs per school for tier 2 cleaning needed for an estimated 10% of targeted physical areas per school (i.e., bathrooms, food service areas, and high-need classrooms, including special needs classes). https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2003/2003347.pdfpdf iconexternal icon; https://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/wysiwyg/reopen-schools-financial-implications.pdfpdf iconexternal icon.
^§ Costs of potential additional transportation, where needed, were estimated assuming that such costs are equivalent to a 36% increase of FY18 state expenditures for student transportation. https://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/wysiwyg/reopen-schools-financial-implications.pdfpdf iconexternal icon.
^¶ Low percentage cost calculated using only the average cost per student for materials and consumables. High percentage cost calculated using high average total cost per student, which includes all three cost categories (Materials and Consumables, Custodian FTEs [high est.], and Potential additional transportation).
** Percentage increase in expenditure per student above FY18 levels.
^†† Total costs for each category of state estimates fall within the national range of estimates per category. The national range uses a range of prices nationwide for that item, multiplied by the number of units nationally, adjusted by the highest and lowest nationwide cost of living index. The state estimates are specific to each state’s school population and are estimated using a combination of past year transportation expenditures, the average wage for custodians, and average price of materials in that state, with adjustments for the state-specific cost of living index.