Congress set aside approximately $13.2 billion of the $30.75 billion allotted to the Education Stabilization Fund through the Coronavirus Aid Relief, and Economic Security Act for the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund. Signed into law on March 20, 2021, the U.S. Department of Education awarded these grants to state educational agencies for the purpose of providing local educational agencies, including charter schools that are LEAs, with emergency relief funds to address the impact that COVID-19 has had, and continues to have, on elementary and secondary schools across the nation.
American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds are provided to state educational agencies and school districts to help safely reopen and sustain the safe operation of schools and address the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the nation's students.
The focus is to help schools return safely to in-person instruction, maximize in-person instruction time, sustain the safe operations of schools, and address the academic, social, emotional, and mental health impact of COVID-19.
The Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education has established three areas of planning for use of funds:
Creating Safe and Healthy Learning Environments
Addressing Lost Instructional Time or Loss of Learning
Supporting Educator and Staff Stability and Well-Being
Frequently Asked Questions about the ESSER Fund: FAQ document from the U.S. Office of Elementary and Secondary Education that aims to answer questions that are not easily understood from a plain reading of Section 18003 and other parts of the CARES Act or the ESSER Fund Certification and Agreement. It was developed in direct response to questions that the U.S. Department of Education has received from SEA and LEA grant administrators implementing the ESSER Fund program. If you have questions that are not answered in this document, please email ESSERF@ed.gov.
Abbreviations
ADE: Arkansas Department of Education
ARP: American Rescue Plan
CRRSA Act: Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act
DESE: Division of Elementary and Secondary Education
EANS: Emergency Assistance to Non-Public Schools
ESSER: Elementary and Secondary Emergency Relief Fund
HCY: Homeless Children and Youth
LEA: Local Educational Agencies
SEA: State Educational Agencies
USED: U.S. Department of Education
Timeline
March 27, 2020 - President Trump signed the CARES Act, which established at $2 trillion package of assistance measures.
May 14, 2020 - Arkansas application for ESSER funds approved
December 27, 2020 - President Trump signed into law the CRRSA Act for ESSER II funds.
February 1, 2021 - LEA application for ESSER II Funds deadline
March 11, 2021 - President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act into law.
March 20, 2021 - USED awarded grants to SEAs
July 13, 2021 - DESE submitted state assurances for the ARP HCY Funds
Funds Obligation Timeline
September 30, 2022 - ESSER l
September 30, 2023 - ESSER ll
September 30, 2024 - ARP ESSER
September 30, 2024 - ARP HCY
September 20, 2023 - EANS (CRRSA)
To be announced - EANS (ARP)
Questions or comments regarding the use of ESSER funds as it relates to the PCSSD Ready for Learning (Continuity of Services) Plan, can be submitted through this form. Questions will be answered within a reasonable amount of time through the Communications Department.
The following chart illustrates anticipated expenditures using funds issued by the American Rescue Plan for fiscal years 2021-2022 and 2022-2023.
Projected Amount | $2,400,000 | $1,000,000 | $240,000 | $60,000 | $160,000 | $120,000 | $170,000 | $2,000,000 | $50,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Practice | Direct Instruction | Direct Instruction | Director of Innovation/STEM | Common Formative Assessment (CFA) Design and Implementation (2021-2022) | Novice Mentoring Lead Teacher | Center of Innovation (COI) and DRIVEN Virtual Academy (DVA) Administrator | Social Emotional Services | Credit Recovery and Tutoring (Spring, Summer, and Fall 2021) | Digital Assessment Materials |
Description | Addressing learning loss among students, including low-income students, children with disabilities, English learners, racial and ethnic minorities, students experiencing homelessness, and children and youth in foster care, of the LEA, including by increasing instructional time by block scheduling for ELA and Math courses at the middle school level. Decrease teacher student load by 50 while reducing the achievement gap between low-income students, racial and ethnic minorities, and students with IEP (Reeves, 2003). | Increase in needed DRIVEN Virtual Academy certified staff due to increase in COVID 19 cases | Responsible for science and math curriculum development and implementation in both the virtual and traditional learning space. | School leadership resources - Addressing learning loss through administering high quality assessments that are valid and reliable (Reeves, 2003). | School leadership resources - Addressing learning loss through administering high quality assessments that are valid and reliable (Reeves, 2003). | Supporting students with mental health needs and learning loss and virtual students. | Planning and implementing activities related to supplemental mentoring and mental health support during school and after school programs at the middle school level. | Planning and implementing activities related to summer learning and supplemental afterschool programs, including providing classroom instruction or online learning during the summer months and addressing the needs of low‐income students, students with disabilities, English learners, migrant students, students experiencing homelessness, and children in foster care to address student learning needs exacerbated by school closures. | Digital assessment materials for examiners to evaluate children under IDEA. |
Code | 170, ESA, or 191 | 170 | 170 | 182 | 181 | 185/182 | 184 | 170 and 184 | 180 |
Projected Amount | $700,000 | $200,000 | $300,000 | $2,700,000 | $500,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Practice | Math and Science Books | District Career Academy Coach | Counselors (elementary/secondary) | COVID-19 Leave (substitute cost) and Vaccination Leave | Professional Development for ELA and Math Teachers |
Description | Evidence based core math curriculum and related professional development (Reeves, 2003). | Career and Technology Education Programming to ensure professional development for the implementation of 90/90/90 practices with CTE across all High Schools (Reeves, 2003) | Mental Health and Academic Support for minority students and virtual students. | Providing 10 day COVID Leave due to quarantine and support for employee vaccination to prevent work-loss time. | Planning, designing and implementing instructional professional development and coordination of services for onsite, blended, and virtual instruction to address the needs of low‐income students, students with disabilities, English learners, migrant students, students experiencing homelessness, and children in foster care to address student learning needs exacerbated by school closures. |
Code | 170 | 181 or Perkins | 182 | 181 | 181 |
Projected Amount | $4,000,000 | $500,000 | $1,875,000 | $600,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Practice | PPE/Cleaning Supplies | Contact Tracing (extra time on weekend and COVID nurse lead salary) | Supervision | Nutrition Budget Shortfall |
Description |
| Support for maintaining a Point of Contact for all COVID-19 related information | Provide support for staff to ensure effective onsite learning practices and outcomes due to COVID-19 pandemic | Mitigate budgetary shortfall due to COVID-19 requirements for staffing and direct services to students |
Code | 188 | 190 | 187 or 191 | 191 |
Projected Amount | $980,000 |
|---|---|
Practice | Substitutes |
Description | Offset the cost of increased substitutes due to COVID-19 |
Code | 191 |
Projected Amount | $2,000,000 | $25,000 |
|---|---|---|
Practice | Chromebooks | 25 OWLs |
Description | Purchasing educational technology (including hardware, software, and connectivity) for students who are served by the LEA that aids in regular and substantive educational interaction to reduce learning loss between students and their classroom instructors, including low‐income students, English learners, migrant students, students experiencing homelessness, children in foster care, and students with disabilities. | Adaptive technology to support virtual instruction |
Code | 185 |
Projected Amount | $3,000,000 | $4,000,000 |
|---|---|---|
Practice | HVAC (Sylvan Hills High - old building, Mills Middle, College Station Elementary, Harris Elementary, Lawson Elementary, Sylvan Hills Junior High) | Mills University Studies High - extension for 10 classrooms |
Description | Improve air quality: replacement/repair projects to improve air quality in school facilities | Facility Improvement: to enable operation of schools to reduce risk of virus transmission and exposure to environmental health hazards. |
Code | 197 | 196 or 191 or CTE |
Projected Amount | $400,000 |
|---|---|
Practice | 5 Buses (clean diesel) |
Description | Due to the expansion and changes in bus routes purchase of buses to support social distancing |
Code | 198 |
