The Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief 3.0 (ESSER 3.0) Fund provides a total of nearly $122 billion to states and local educational agencies (LEAs) to help safely reopen and sustain the safe operation of schools and address the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the nation's students over a three-year period.
Weakley County Schools ESSER 3.0 Director, Angie Rushing meets regularly with stakeholders including administrative staff, teachers, students, and community representatives to plan and implement the expenditures within the grant. Altogether, the county is set to receive $8,694,049 during the three-year span of the grant.
Weakley County Schools ESSER team is on-target and meeting all planned timelines for purchasing and expenditures related to these relief funds. In the 2021-22 school year, Weakley County Schools received $2,250,416.83. In planning for year 2, grant documentation has been submitted and has already been approved for 2022-23. Barring unforeseen circumstances and global supply chain challenges, Weakley County Schools will have spent two-thirds of the grant by the end of the current fiscal year. The remaining one-third of the grant's funds will be spent over the course of the third and final year of the grant's timeline, the 2023-24 school year.
Initiatives to combat learning loss have begun and are showing successful outcomes. After School Scholars is in its second semester, employing over 100 tutors district-wide for more than 40 hours beyond the school day to help students become proficient in ELA and Math. New equipment and furniture has been purchased and installed for many schools in the district, and new employees have been hired. The grant, like any other federal grant, is closely monitored and very specific in rules, oversight, allowable and prohibited purchases, and required documentation that is open to the public for review. Each item listed is approved prior to purchase by a grant oversight committee at the state level. For a more complete list of purchases and plan details, review the public spending plan and addenda which are linked below.
If you have questions, concerns, and / or suggestions for future purchases with ESSER dollars, please email ESSER Program Director Angie Rushing at:
[email protected].
ESSER LINKS: