BRENTWOOD—The K-12 Brentwood School sent a letter to parents on April 24 indicating that the school received aid from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). As many schools have been financially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and have not yet received any funding, many people question the fairness of the program.
The letter from Brentwood School didn’t reveal the amount of funding. The school disclosed that the PPP loan can address the issues of the potential decline in enrollment and donation.
“The dramatic and enduring impacts of COVID-19 will continue to affect our school financially, and in other ways, over the course of at least the next year,” Brentwood School said in a statement. “The school can avoid layoffs that could compromise a successful return to school for our students.” Brentwood School stressed that each year they rely more on donation than tuition fees to balance their budget and now they do face financial difficulties.
“It has come to our attention that some private schools with significant endowments have taken PPP loans. They should return them,” Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin tweeted on Friday, May 1. Private schools receiving PPP loans become a controversial issue lately when some schools face significant financial risks without receiving any aids.
Many people criticized that the PPP loans only benefit specific organizations, while missing out the financially vulnerable schools and small business. They argued that the loans need to be relocated. Due to public pressure, several universities and companies have returned PPP loans and some schools such as Harvard and Stanford spontaneously said they won’t accept funding from the program.
