As New York is set to receive billions of dollars in federal aid to offset revenue losses during the COVID-19 pandemic, the education advocacy group Alliance for Quality Education has some ideas for how to spend it. 

The group is set to release a report detailing how New York can spend its money on schools, many of which have been operating at reduced capacity to limit the spread of the virus during the crisis.

The pandemic has upended traditional learning, with some children receiving instruction remotely, but running into technological limitations. And then there is the emotional well-being component facing kids.

"Since the pandemic began, students' social/emotional needs have increased as a result of the trauma their families and communities have experienced, including the loss of loved ones; their parents' loss of employment and the resulting insecurity in housing, food and meeting of basic needs; social isolation; lack of peer interaction, and more," the report found. "Students have also experienced loss of learning as remote instruction has not reached every student and/or was not effective for every student."

The group also pointed to the impact of the pandemic that has disproportionately hit communities of color and lower-income families. 

To these ends, the report backed targeted spending for programs meant to aid mental health and set aside at least 20% of funding for summer catch-up programs. 

At the same time, the group backed turning every school into a community school, which provides services for residents and family members of students beyond classroom instruction. 

"The federal government is making a down payment in the recovery of our education system," the report stated. "The state’s obligation is to spend it wisely, on strategies that work, with the meaningful input of families and communities, while tracking and accounting for that spending. The state must sustain any progress made, any re-building of our education system, in a way that is better than before."