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Today, the White House announced it will be expanding its investments in COVID-19 testing at K12 schools by:

• Sending 5 Million No-Cost Point-of-Care Tests Per Month to Schools. 
• Providing 5 Million Additional Lab-Based PCR Tests for Free to Schools Per Month
• Deploying Federal Surge Testing Units to Support Free Testing Access for Students, School Staff, and Families at Community Testing Sites.
• Connecting Schools with COVID-19 Testing Providers to Set Up School Testing Programs using American Rescue Plan Funds. 
• New Training, Resources, and Materials for Implementing Test to Stay in Schools.

In a , Secretary Cardona outlined new and existing resources from the federal government that can help you access tests and implement testing programs in your schools. The letter recommended:

• Using your state's COVID-19 testing program(s) and resources, funded by the CDC Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity (ELC) program,
• Accessing free lab-based testing through the CDC Operation Expanded Testing (OpET) program,
• Connecting with school COVID-19 testing vendors, and
• Partnering with a community COVID-19 testing site near your school that your students and staff can use.

In response to today鈥檚 announcement about expanded support for COVID-19 testing in schools, Daniel A. Domenech, executive director of AASA, 萝莉网, issued the following statement:

鈥淲e applaud this announcement. School superintendents across the nation have been working tirelessly this school year to ensure as robust of an in-person educational opportunity as possible in the current COVID environment, and today鈥檚 news is a critical expansion of one of the mitigation strategies schools and system leaders are increasingly relying on: Testing.

鈥淭he plan relies on a blended approach of testing supports: Distributing 5 million free, rapid tests to schools each month; providing 5 million additional PCR tests for free to schools each month; organizing surge testing units to support expanded testing needs in communities; working with states and outside organizations to connect schools with testing providers; and distributing additional training, resources and materials related to last month鈥檚 Test to Stay policy update.

鈥淭hese resources are a welcome opportunity for school system leaders working to expand and strengthen the role of testing in their schools鈥� COVID mitigation work.鈥� 

Full details in . You can find Sec. Cardona's full Dear Colleague letter . Find the 萝莉网press release here.