JOHN YANG: More than three years ago, schools received the first installment in what would become the biggest ever one-time infusion of federal money dedicated to education, about $190 billion to protect against COVID and reverse the academic setbacks that followed the pandemic.

School districts used the money for a variety of purposes, from tutoring programs to building upgrades.

Some of the districts, like one in Virginia, used it to add more days to the academic year.

Earlier this month, Geoff Bennett visited a school there to see how that program is faring.

GEOFF BENNETT: At Fairfield Court Elementary School, addition comes easy to these third-graders.

MAN: Even when they are all broken up into little one, we can still imagine that you can form them back into a big what?

STUDENT: Hundred.

MAN: A big 100.

Man, you guys are so smart.

GEOFF BENNETT: This year, they have added 20 more days to the school year, starting class in late July.

It is part of a pilot program that Richmond Public Schools introduced to combat pandemic learning loss.

Math is 8-year-old Kimora Arrington's favorite subject.

She says she's excited about the extra time in the classroom.

KIMORA ARRINGTON, Student: I like to come to school to read and get smarter and smarter and grow up.

School belongs to me.

And I want to learn to get in college.

That's why I always come to school every, every day.

GEOFF BENNETT: Kimora was in kindergarten when the pandemic started.

Her dad, Darryl Arrington, says he noticed his young children drifting off during virtual instruction and was one of the first parents to sign them up for extended school.

DARRYL ARRINGTON, Father: I wanted the kids to basically have a fresh start as far as when, yes, last year, they learned this, but, when they come back, they can refresh their minds, so they won't lose focus.

I hope my kids gain a lot of experience, as far as learning, a lot of education, purpose, and a lot of love.

GEOFF BENNETT: In 2021, the federal government gave school districts the third and final installment of pandemic aid money, $122 billion, with a requirement to spend at least 20 percent of those funds on helping students recover academically.

In this district and others nationwide, the learning loss debate centers on time and whether to use that new money for more hours in school.

After pushback from some teachers and community members, only two of 55 Richmond public schools adopted the pilot program.

On July 24, state and city officials welcomed students at Fairfield Court for their first day in class after a six-week summer.

That morning, Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras said maintaining the status quo wasn't an option.

JASON KAMRAS, Superintendent, Richmond Public Schools: The pandemic really set us back, and we know we had a lot of challenges before then.

And so, in this once-in-a-century moment, we need once-in-a-century responses.

And that is what we have here today.

GEOFF BENNETT: Richmond is a notable example of what researchers call a national crisis.

From 2019 to 2022, the city's third through eighth graders lost the equivalent of a year-and-a-half in math and reading instruction.

The city's Black and Hispanic students make up roughly 85 percent of public school enrollment and faced the greatest fallout.

Nearly all students at Fairfield Court live in a neighboring public housing development under the same name.

In the fall of 2020, Angela Wright became their principal, but didn't actually see students in person until the following year.

ANGELA WRIGHT, Principal, Fairfield Court Elementary School: That was hard for relationship-building, just to see how parents really suffered going through the pandemic, and even trying to get their kids on board with education.

GEOFF BENNETT: She built support among parents and staff for the 20-day pilot as an opportunity to combat pandemic and summer learning loss.

What was your initial reaction when you heard about this program to extend the school year?

ANGELA WRIGHT: The summer learning loss for Fairfield Court and our students was real.

Our kids would come back, and it's like they had lost everything they had learned.

So, when our superintendent presented it to all, that was something that I was like, wow, that would really benefit our students.

GEOFF BENNETT: Teachers receive a $10,000 bonus for working the extra month, and an additional $5,000 after reaching certain academic goals.

During the pilot, Dymon Hunt's (ph) teachers have introduced him and his classmates to more hands-on learning, like field trips.

DYMON HUNT, Student: We have been testing science experiments outside, paper airplanes.

I like the field trips.

The field trips are like super fun.

We got to go swimming.

Like, yes, it was pretty cool.

GEOFF BENNETT: But opponents of changing the traditional school calendar said the district already has underfunded needs, and shouldn't add more days to what they call a broken system.

NERI SUAREZ, President, Richmond Education Association: I think, partly, the motivation for extending the calendar was the mentality that the pandemic created issues that were not there.

But that is not so.

These issues have been rampant in Richmond Public Schools for years.

GEOFF BENNETT: Neri Suarez is a high school teacher and the president of the Richmond Education Association, the city's teachers union.

NERI SUAREZ: I think a better way to use that money is to have smaller classrooms, focus on teacher retention, improve the quality of our buildings.

Right now, we have buildings with mold.

GEOFF BENNETT: Suarez also points out that, when the district surveyed parents and teachers about changing the status quo nearly two years ago, the majority voted to keep the traditional calendar.

Were you prepared for the initial pushback you faced when you floated this proposal?

(LAUGHTER) JASON KAMRAS: Well, I think, any time we introduce change, there's going to be a pushback.

GEOFF BENNETT: Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras says schools could only participate in the program if they showed strong support among parents and staff.

He said students have already passed the first test, attendance.

JASON KAMRAS: It's going to all come down to student achievement and student satisfaction, teacher satisfaction.

But I can tell you, one of the first indicators we look at is, did the kids show up?

GEOFF BENNETT: In the first 20 days, Fairfield Court had an average attendance rate of 90 percent.

The program is an approach education researchers say works under certain conditions.

THOMAS TOCH, FutureEd: The evidence does suggest that more learning time, whether it's in the form of extended school days or school years, intensive tutoring, or summer schooling, does, in general, when it's done properly, make a difference in student achievement.

GEOFF BENNETT: Thomas Toch is the director of FutureEd, an independent education think tank at Georgetown University.

He supports the extended school pilot program in Richmond, but says there is no one-size-fits-all approach on how to best spend the federal funding.

THOMAS TOCH: In some places, the absence of air conditioning or heating in schools, it makes learning very difficult.

And so what we have seen is that less affluent districts, often in rural communities, are spending some of their federal monies on HVAC systems and on updating their textbooks and other things that more affluent districts have been able to afford in the course of their annual budgets.

It's hard to assess what's right in a given community without understanding the circumstances in that community.

GEOFF BENNETT: Richmond school district officials argue additional days combined with small group tutoring will positively impact students now and in the future.

This year, Fairfield Court will have five tutors for students struggling to keep up.

If this program is effective and does help these children academically, will the position of the union change?

NERI SUAREZ: Absolutely.

Our position is, what works best for all students?

What is equitable for all students?

And so that's why we want to make sure that everyone understands that these are two schools.

How many students are in these two schools, as opposed to continuing to lose learning in other schools because we're short-staffed, because we're underfunded?

That is really where the problem is.

GEOFF BENNETT: The district used part of its pandemic recovery funding to pay for the program, which cost $2 million between both schools.

School districts have a September 2024 deadline to budget the remaining federal funds, but one major question is how programs like Fairfield Courts will be funded after next year.

JASON KAMRAS: I have been fighting really hard at the state level.

Virginia currently has a $3 billion surplus.

I believe a huge chunk of that should go to Virginia's public schools to support programs exactly like this.

GEOFF BENNETT: The results from this pilot will help the district decide whether to push for a similar approach at other schools in the years to come.

The extra month in class has already inspired Kimora to choose her future career, a schoolteacher.

KIMORA ARRINGTON: I can help students to count and do place value blocks and put them in college, and they could grow up to get their own house, their own car.

GEOFF BENNETT: But, right now, there's still 20 minutes left in math class and a chance to make things right for these kids.