"We're actually calling 2024-25 'the bloodletting,'" said Dr. Marguerite Roza, director of the Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University. "Public education has not seen a right-sizing, fiscal cliff, whatever you want to call it, of this magnitude at any time in the past, including the last recession. I think it's going to be quite shocking."

About one of every four Alabama private schools took Paycheck Protection Program loans, a program designed to help save jobs due to the loss of business from COVID lockdowns.

Community organizations, social media influencers and national nonprofits are trying to help fill the void with donations to cover the more than $19 million in debt students have accrued just halfway into the school year. Some states are picking up where the federal free meals for all left off.

A new study highlights some of the challenges states face as they look to meet requirements of a federal law designed to ensure students have equitable opportunities for education in K-12 schools, regardless of race, income, disability or other factors.