Marguerite followed that up to note that, while the feds aren’t telling districts what to do with the money, they are telling them that they’d better make decisions with their communities. She writes: 
 
In many places, the pandemic redefined the relationship among home, school and community, changing the way parents, teachers and students worked together to support learning. Parents became educators. Living rooms, day care centers and houses of worship became classrooms. Now, communities, advocates and families have growing expectations for partnership and participation and might have new ideas about how schooling should look going forward. 
 
Use of participatory budgeting is a tall ask for sure, especially as school district plans for spending the federal relief funds are due at the end of the summer, and it takes time and effort to craft a set of meaningful choices and develop materials that communicate those options.