1. FY24 is the final full fiscal year where K-12 districts can spend ESSER III funds. Burbio tracks the amount of ESSER III funding that has been spent by districts nationwide, and also has compiled detailed, searchable district plans representing over 83% of K-12 students.
The pace of district spending varies widely, and in our most recent post we broke down examples from California and Massachusetts. This week we look at two more states, starting with Connecticut.
The following chart breaks down districts in Connecticut by percentage of their allocation that has been spent. Just over fifty percent of the districts have reported spending less than half their ESSER III funding to date:
Another way to evaluate the data is to look at districts that have the most available dollars unspent in absolute terms. From the chart below you can see that 4 districts in Connecticut have over $50 million in unspent funds and 20 have between $5 million and $50 million:
2. In Indiana, the second state we review, just over 55% of districts have reported spending less than half their ESSER III funds:
Two districts have over $50 million in remaining funds, while 38 have between $5 million and $50 million:
3. Burbio gathers ESSER III plans, reported ESSER III spending, school board meeting minutes, district checkbook registers, CapEx and operating budgets, and K-12 enrollments, among other information sets. Most partners pull the data into their CRMs and/or use the data at the regional or national level for market analysis. Over the next few weeks we are launching a district profile dashboard that aggregates this data into one view.
In the example below, note the NCES code at the top left of the screen shot, which calls up the relevant information for Bridgeport Public Schools in Connecticut. In the second section of the frame, on the left a toggle pulls up planned spending in the Academic Intervention category of their ESSER III plan, and to the right the pace of ESSER III spending.
In the bottom segment of the frame note links to recent board meeting documents on the left, with a toggled list of keyword searches related to curriculum mentions in the most recent three meetings. At the bottom we are using generative AI to allow clients to summarize documents by specific keywords.
There are additional sections related to budgets, spending documents, and strategic plans that will be a part of the profile, and we will be iterating on new ways to use AI to analyze and present this information as the service rolls out.
4. You may have noted the variation displayed above in keyword matches in each month's school board meeting minutes. While that is just one indicator of activity, we wanted to highlight what we have found when terms appear frequently. The examples below are highly specific to certain industry verticals, but this exercise yields insights similar across all K-12 operations and policies discussed at school boards:
La Joya ISD, TX March 2023 school board meeting minutes mentioned HVAC 33 times, including:
Certificate of payment to contractors for HVAC upgrades at elementary and middle school
Payment listed for HVAC project phase II from ESSER funds
List of bids for discussion on best value for the school district, with contractor names and bid amounts listed, and ranking criteria indicated.
Huntington Beach City School District, CA has 25 mentions of Preschool in their January board meeting covering:
Overview of Pre-K academy for enrolled students which includes costs, staffing levels, programming details, locations and dates
Details on the Extended School Year program covering students with special needs in grades Pre-K through 7
Approval of contract between CA Department of Ed and the district to continue providing Early Childhood Development Education funding through the CA Preschool Program for the 2023-2024 school year
Information on vendor awards for Pre-K programs as well as staffing updates
Irvington Public Schools, NJ mentions STEM 21 times and STEAM 48 times in their April 2023 board meeting including:
Purchase of desks, seating, and cabinets for the renovated STEM spaces, renovated as part of the creation of an extended learning program for afterschool, Saturdays and summer
Purchase of an online STEM learning program using real and simulated robotics for the 2023/24 years, plus detailed descriptions of STEM-related excursions for students
Extensive discussion of programming, hires, and vendor awards for the district's STEAM academy