Burbio School Tracker 1/04: Requirements

1. In our previous newsletter we introduced Burbio's State-Level Funding Tracker, which organizes information about special revenue sources from all 50 states and allows clients to more efficiently capitalize on these funding options. One of the characteristics of these sources is the eligibility requirements to receive funding. These criteria fall into a variety of different areas. Among them:

• Demonstrated need through metrics such as academic performance or attendance
• An existing, up and running program that the funding involved will supplement
• The creation of new program with the funding 
• The involvement of local, non-LEA partners to support the program. In certain cases the non-LEA partner can be the lead applicant
• District size and/or socio-economic factors
  

  Below are examples from across eight states of funding sources with specific criteria outlined:

  • In Washington, a Small School District Modernization Grant is available specifically for districts with an enrollment of 1,000 students or less and with such low property value that replacing or modernizing the school facility through the school construction assistance program would present an extraordinary tax burden on property owners or would exceed allowable debt for the district.
  • In New Hampshire the Robotics Education Development Grants are awarded to public school districts who already have an established partnership with at least one sponsor or business. Districts may request up to $15,000 to cover the costs of starting and financing a robotics team.
  • Districts in Alaska can use funds from the District-Wide Early Education Grant program to develop new or expand existing Pre-K programs. Up to $3 million will be awarded to districts each year, prioritizing eligible districts with the lowest performance and those not adequately served by Head Start programs or other high-quality childcare. 
  • South Dakota has issued a sub-grant of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act targeting chronic absenteeism and low attendance.  To qualify the district, building, or subgroup population must meet one of 3 requirements:  a high absenteeism rate above 5% (missing more than 30 days), a chronic absenteeism rate (missing 10% of days) that has more than doubled since before the pandemic or attendance below 85%.  LEAs may request up to $500,000. 
  • In Pennsylvania, the Supplemental Equipment Grants  seeks proposals from districts with secondary schools and career and technical centers that have an established CTE program. Statewide, $15MM is available to purchase equipment and tools for classroom use. 
  • In Minnesota the Olmstead Family and Community Engagement grants provide funding to community entities serving students and their families with disabilities in “historically underserved racial/ethnic communities or racial/ethnic communities new to Minnesota.” The nonprofits who apply for the funds must partner with one or more LEAs to serve students within those communities.  The maximum grant is $10,000.
  • In California, the Specialized Secondary Programs (SSP) Grant awarded $4,892,000 to schools for the 2023-2024 school year. In order to be eligible, establishment of new programs that promote an in-depth study of a core curriculum area that emphasizes the acquisition of technology skills was required. The Legislature’s intent was for programs to benefit the local economy by having schools located close to related industries.
  • Massachusetts announced the competitive Hate Crime Prevention Round 2 grant. All applicants must have a letter of support from the head of their local law enforcement agency.  Priority will be given to "schools that have experienced . . .  incidences of bias within the last 2 school years  . . .  or are in chronically underperforming status," and have "existing and ongoing collaboration with local human rights organizations that have expertise in promoting equity . . ."
  
  
  2.  In our Tracker from mid-November we highlighted that recently-reporting states had spent 54.7% of their ESSER III funding, which leaves tens of billions of dollars remaining as we head into 2024. Spending deadlines for ESSER III are January 2025, with the possibility of extensions that can run into March 2026.    
  
  This week we highlight states that have over half their ESSER III funds remaining. For this analysis we only included states that have reported recently. From the chart below, all states listed have reported since at least October, with the exception of Utah and Montana, which last reported in mid-September: 
  

3. Burbio tracks ESSER III spending by districts nationally and this week we profile ESSER III spending in Vermont.   

• To date, Vermont districts have spent in aggregate 37% of ESSER III dollars and have over $150MM remaining.  
• Thirty-three districts have between $1MM and $5MM remaining and ten have between $5MM and $50MM remaining. 

The chart below breaks down the number of districts and the amount they have remaining:

Below is a breakout by decile of percent of allocation that has been spent: