ESSER III Funds: Supporting

Unfinished Learning
Finance PBL, Spring 2022
Wendy Bermúdez
Ashley Bleakley
Katie Fielding
Donita Muse
Virginia Pandemic Funding Timeline

CRRSA
The Coronavirus Response and
COVID-19 Pandemic Begins Relief Supplemental Appropriations
Act, 2021 (CRRSA) provided $54.3
Schools in Virginia Close March 12, 2020 billion in supplemental ESSER
funding, known as the ESSER II fund.

March 27, 2020 March 11, 2021

March 2020 Dec 27, 2020

CARES ACT
ARPA
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and
Economic Security (CARES) Act, The American Rescue Plan Act,
provided $13.5 billion to the ESSER provided $122.7 billion in
Fund. supplemental ESSER funding, known
as the ESSER III fund.
Virginia ESSER I : $23,859,919 Elementary and
Secondary School
■ Virtual Virginia Expansion Emergency Relief
Fund Tracker
■ WHRO/PBS television instructional content
■ GoOpenVA Expansion
■ Teacher Professional Development
■ Technology Equipment
■ Canvas LMS

Spending Period: March 13, 2020 - September 30, 2022.

Reimbursements requests must be submitted to VDOE by November 15, 2022.
ESSER I by Division

Alexandria City Arlington Public Fairfax County Prince William

Public Schools Schools Public Schools County Public
Schools

May 2020 $3,631,222 $2,065,392 $20,847,535 $9,260,965

Oct 2020 $154,916 $267,434 $1,941,047 $876,566

 Virginia ESSER II: $93,928,058 Elementary and
Secondary School
Emergency Relief
Fund Tracker
■ $8.8 million grades 3-8 growth assessment development.
■ $30 million for a grant-based program to address learning loss and
other student support needs related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
i. Used during 2021-22 School Year
ii. Flexibility in Funding Usage by LEA
■ $55 million for the Virginia LEARNS Education Recovery grants

Spending Period: March 13, 2020 – September 30, 2023.

Reimbursements requests must be submitted to VDOE by November 15, 2023
ESSER II by Division

Alexandria City Arlington Public Fairfax County Prince William

Public Schools Schools Public Schools County Public
Schools

Total $15,491,977 $8,395,507 $82,982,674 $39,124,565.

Unfinished $172,725 $389,940 $3,948,000 -

Learning
About ESSER III Funds for Unfinished Learning
Section 2001(e)(1) of the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act requires each LEA
to use 20% percent of its formula funds to address the academic impact of
lost instructional time (learning loss) through evidence-based interventions:

○ Summer learning or summer enrichment,

○ Extended day,
○ Comprehensive after-school programs,
○ Extended school year programs.
 Elementary and
Virginia ESSER III: $210,949,075 Secondary School
Emergency Relief
Fund Tracker

From the ESSER III funds reserved for state level programs and
activities, the VDOE will award up to $107 million to school divisions
through three competitive grants:

● Addressing Unfinished Learning - up to $65 million;

● Before and After School Programs - up to $21 million; and
● Summer Programs - up to $21 million.

Spending Period: March 13, 2020 – September 30, 2024.

Reimbursement requests must be submitted to VDOE by November 15, 2024.
 Three grants to be funded with ESSER III state set aside funds –

Summer Learning Programs, Before and After School Programs, and

Programs to Address Unfinished Learning

Grant Process
● School Divisions had to submit a grant application for each of the
categories
● Had to do a needs assessment to show the percentage of students who
had unfinished learning from not meeting benchmark (DIBELS, Math
Inventory, SOLs scores from Spring 2021)
● Had to provide a summary of the proposed programs (tied to literacy and
math), a timeline of the program implementation, describe the steps they
would take to engage families in the programs, and a detailed budget
description of expenditures (personal services, supplies, etc.)
● The application due date was December 1, 2021.
ESSER III by Division
Alexandria City Arlington Public Fairfax County Prince William
Public Schools Schools Public Schools County Public
Schools

Total $34,792,780.78 $18,855,117.73 $186,367,298.16 $87,868,215.36

Unfinished $479,292.03 $2,039,087.46 $13,468,381.86 $6,795,827.25

Learning

Before and After $254,404.00 $147,820.00 $3,388,111.00 $2,398,445.83

School Programs

Summer $199,323.68 - - $3,882,057.12

Programs
ESSER SPENDING CYCLES

20 21 22 23 24
ESSER I

ESSER II

ESSER III

LOREM
Research Design
❏ Created Google survey for principals
❏ Distributed survey to administrators in Alexandria City, Arlington, Fairfax,
and Prince William County Schools
❏ Had follow up interviews with district directors and school level principals
to get their perceptions on the efficacy of ESSER funding programs.
❏ Sarah Putman, Director of Curriculum and Teaching (APS)
❏ Robert Easley, Director of Budget and Financial Systems (ACPS)
❏ Carmen Sanders, Alexandria City High School Campus Administrator
❏ Building Principals within Alexandria City and Prince William
Survey Results
Survey Results
Survey Results
Survey Results
Alexandria City Public Schools
The American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act Elementary and Secondary Emergency
Relief (ESSER) III Fund allocations for ACPS is $34.8 million.

Social, Emotional, COVID 19 Human Capital Technology

and Academic Mitigation Needs Infrastructure
Learning Projects

ACPS American
Rescue Plan (ARP)
● No School Specific Funding Elementary and
● Allocation to Departments within Central Office Secondary School
Emergency Relief
● Principal Perspective Varies Across Schools (ESSER) Fund III
Plan for Public
Comment

Revisions April 2022

Arlington County Public Schools

Amount: $18.8 million

● $10,507,996.39 for Virtual Learning Program
● $4,667,240.04 to address unfinished learning
● $1,092,772.58 to hire additional reading and math coaches
● $829,575- Prevention & mitigation strategies
● $440,000 - Wifi Access at home
● $155,924.44 to hire a Director for the Office of English Learners (OEL)
● $991,000 for assessments
● $184,000 to purchase universal screening tools
Fairfax County Public Schools
● Awarded $188.8 million

● Feedback from FCPS HS Principal:

○ ~2900 students
○ Received $50,000 - $100,000
○ Funds used for:
■ High dose tutoring during & after
school
● Targeted SPED & EL students
○ No formal measurements of impact yet
Prince William County Schools
● $87.9 million in ESSER III funds
● 56% of the PWCS formula funds to address learning loss/unfinished learning or
nearly $49 million:
Staffing for high dosage tutoring, Learning materials and Professional learning on Summer
extended/expanded learning time, common assessments SOL standards and high School
healing engagement support, and that support the dose tutoring. Programs
family re-engagement support. rigorous math and
literacy learning
(Renaissance STAR)
Overall Perceptions
❏ School based administrators don’t have a good idea of how this money is

being used overall

❏ Lack of formal data just yet to measure impact of funding

❏ Variability both within districts and between districts in terms of use of

ESSER III funds

References
Alexandria City Public Schools. (2021, July). ACPS American rescue plan (ARP) elementary and secondary school emergency relief (ESSER) fund III: Plan for public comment.

Retrieved April 23, 2022, from https://www.acps.k12.va.us/cms/lib/VA01918616/Centricity/Domain/1554/esser_iii_acps_plan.pdf

Arlington Public Schools. (n.d.). Information about American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Elementary and Secondary Emergency Relief (ESSER) III Fund. Retrieved April 23, 2022, from

https://www.apsva.us/budget-finance/arpa-esser-fund-info/

Fairfax County Public Schools. (n.d.). Elementary and secondary school emergency relief (ESSER) fund III spending plan. Retrieved April 23, 2022, from

https://www.fcps.edu/ESSER3/SpendingPlan

National Conference of State Legislatures. (2022, January 25). Elementary and secondary school emergency relief fund tracker. Retrieved April 23, 2022, from

https://www.ncsl.org/ncsl-in-dc/standing-committees/education/cares-act-elementary-and-secondary-school-emergency-relief-fund-tracker.aspx

Prince William County Schools. (n.d.). Arp esser plan. Retrieved March 24, 2022, from https://www.pwcs.edu/departments/finance/Budget/esser-iii-plan/arp-esser-plan

Tableau. (2021). Division demographics summary- 2021-2022. Retrieved April 23, 2022, from https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/equity4551/viz/Demographics_104/Summary

Virginia Department of Education (n.d.). Federal pandemic relief programs. Retrieved April 23, 2022, from https://www.doe.virginia.gov/federal_programs/cares/index.shtml