American Rescue Plan: District ESSER III Plan
On April 21, 2021, the U.S. Department of Education (USED) released its American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ARP ESSER or ESSER III) interim final requirements related to district ESSER III plans and district plans for a safe return to in-person instruction and continuity of services.
Each district receiving ESSER III funds must:
- Develop a plan regarding its proposed uses of ESSER III funds, including engaging in meaningful consultation with all required stakeholders and providing the public opportunity to provide comments during plan development.
- Submit an ESSER III plan to the Department through the Consolidated Accountability and Support Application (CASA).
- Make the plan publicly available on its website in an understandable and accessible format.
This plan is due in full by August 20, 2021.
The distributions of these funds are based on the Title I funding formula, which are the funds providing financial assistance to local educational agencies for children from low-income families.
For reference, Ames has and will receive the following from ESSER funds:
ESSER I: $411,567
ESSER II: $1,686,661
ESSER III: $3,792,492
ESSER III plans submitted to the state must include, at a minimum, a description of:
- The extent to which and how the funds will be used to implement prevention and mitigation strategies that are, to the greatest extent practicable in order to continuously and safely open and operate schools for in-person learning;
- How the district will use the funds to address the academic impact of lost instructional time.
- How the district will spend its remaining ESSER III funds consistent with section 2001(e)(2) of the ARP Act; and
- How the district will ensure that the interventions it implements will respond to the academic, social, emotional, and mental health needs of all students, and particularly those students disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
2021-2022 Proposed Uses of Funds
| Allowable Funding Expenditures | Plan For ESSER III Expenditures From 21-22 School Year |
|---|---|
| Prevention and Mitigation Strategies | Hand sanitizer additional suppliesCleaning SuppliesPPEStaffing for building nursesStaffing for emergency management coordinator |
| Extended Time | Summer School (staffing, supplies, materials)Before and After School tutoring staffing, supplies, materials) |
| Other uses of funds consistent with section 2001(e)(2) of the ARP Act | Edgenuity and Accelerate Education licenses to support remote learning settings |
| Interventions to address to the academic, social, emotional, and mental health needs of all students, including lost learning | Increased access to mental health supports for staff and students Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) Staff training materials to support reading and math interventions (formative assessment software, decodable texts, math intervention software) |
Resources
The following presentations were used in meetings with a stakeholder group. It has many components requested of this group that were not asked of the general public.