What's New – COVID-19 Test Distribution (2024)
To help prevent the spread of COVID-19 -- and to support strong school attendance so that students can safely learn in person -- the U.S. Department of Education (ED) is working in collaboration with the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to provide free COVID-19 tests to school districts.
ED announced this partnership in a letter to Local Education Agencies (LEAs) Regarding the COVID-19 Testing Supply Program on October 7, 2023. Through this program, ED and HHS are offering interested public school districts, including public charter school districts, over-the-counter (OTC) rapid antigen COVID-19 self-tests free of charge for their students, families, staff, and school community. These self-tests are easy to use and can play an important role in containing the spread of the virus in schools and communities. We encourage school districts to make use of this free COVID-19 test offering, which schools may use, for example, to stock school nurses' offices and main offices with tests; to send test kits home with students or parents; or to distribute by other means to put these valuable safeguards in the hands of students, parents, and staff who need them. Individual schools and community-based organizations are ineligible to register, but are encouraged to partner with a local LEA to order on their behalf. (For example, if you are an individual school that applied, please work with your local school district to coordinate orders through a centralized point of contact.)
Before registering for the program, interested school districts must designate a single point of contact (POC) who will be responsible for determining the number of self-test kits to order on behalf of the school district, how frequently, and the delivery address for the self-test kits. (Note that there can only be one delivery address per district.) Once the COVID-19 test kits have been shipped to a delivery address provided by the school district, the POC is responsible for receiving the self-test kits and managing distribution to its site(s).
Designated POCs with a valid NCES LEA ID (which is different than a NCES School ID) can register for the COVID-19 Testing Supply Program for LEAs and order these no-cost COVID-19 self-tests while supplies last.
If your district registered last year, then do not re-register. Your district’s POC can simply log into HPOP and order test kits. If you have any issues accessing HPOP, including the need to update the POC for your district, please send an email describing the challenge that you are experiencing to covideresponse@ed.gov.
It takes approximately 15 business days for ED to process each district's request to register for the program. Once approved, POCs will receive a confirmation email with instructions on how to order the test kits through HHS's Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response's Health Partner Ordering Portal (HPOP), including an account activation link that must be activated within 48 hours upon receiving a confirmation email.
The latest information on how to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other viruses in schools, including recommendations on testing, can be found at Preventing Spread of Infections in K-12 Schools. The guidance includes everyday actions that schools can take to prevent and control the spread of respiratory and stomach viruses, such as influenza and norovirus, and bacterial illness, such as strep throat. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), American Academy of Pediatrics, and the National Association of School Nurses, in partnership with Attendance Works, offer resources to help parents navigate whether to send kids to school and how to support consistent school attendance, while also preventing spread of illness. Additionally, the CDC recommends everyone ages 6 months and older, with rare exceptions, receive updated 2024-2025 COVID-19 and flu vaccines. As always, districts should regularly inform parents about their health and attendance policies, and parents should speak to their pediatricians with questions about their child’s health, and everyone can take steps to prevent illness from spreading and keep up consistent, regular school attendance.
Thank you for your continued dedication to keeping students and staff safe and keeping our schools safely for in-person learning.