An additional $210 million in federal CARES Act funding is being allocated to help Maryland schools and students most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The governor and state school superintendent announced the additional funding Monday in a statement, saying, the resources will help local school systems address the learning gap and digital divide and expand rural broadband.

Monday's announcement follows a similar announcement last week in which more than $45.6 million in additional education funding went toward K-12 technology improvements, community college workforce development programs, rural broadband initiatives and other priorities in every jurisdiction in Maryland, particularly those most affected by the coronavirus pandemic. In total, the governor has committed more than $255 million in CARES Act funding for education priorities.

According to the governor's office, Monday's announcement outlined the following funding priorities:

Remote Learning Enhancements: $100 million
"To address the digital divide, Gov. Larry Hogan and Superintendent Karen Salmon allocated $100 million to be made available to local school systems to ensure that students have access to the most up-to-date devices and connectivity. It is estimated that student devices need to be replaced when they are over four years old. Local school systems must also take into account having the staff necessary to deploy and maintain devices. Having this infrastructure in place is critical to the state’s long-term recovery from COVID-19."

Targeted Tutoring Initiatives: $100 million
"In order to deal with learning loss due to time away from direct instruction and teacher intervention, Hogan and Salmon allocated $100 million for local school systems that implement tutoring and learning programs designed to help students in need. Research has shown that the rate of learning gain can be improved with intensive tutoring. At-risk students are most often identified based on math and reading scores that are significantly below their grade level." Read more at WBALTV