Pandemic money paid for more teachers. What will happen when the money runs out?
COVID-19 came like a wrecking ball through public schools, almost overnight sending students and instruction online while setting off years of concern about loss of learning.
But, the pandemic also brought funding. And now the question arises: what will happen when that money is gone?
The Clover School District held a board work session earlier this month to address a funding issue that’s loomed over public schools. Area districts used federal ESSER funds for a wide range of costs, including additional teachers. These are teachers who districts will have to pay to keep -- well after the federal relief dollars are gone.
Superintendent Sheila Quinn said the district added almost 30 positions with ESSER funds over the past three years.
“That would be a huge impact to the general budget if we were to say, ‘hey, lets move all of them to the general fund,’” Quinn said.
What are ESSER funds?
The Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund began in March 2020 when the federal CARES Act set aside $13.2 billion for schools. A second round in December 2020 provided another $54.3 billion. A third round of ESSER funds followed in March 2021, at $122 billion.
ESSER funds have been used by area districts for masks, sanitizer, desk shields, transition to online work or virtual academies and other needs. Funds also brought in more teachers, intervention instructors and mental health workers to address emotional strain and learning loss due to COVID-19.
Those funds came with timelines.
The first round had to be spent by the end of September last year. The second round wraps up the end of this coming September. Third round revenue has to be spent by the end of September 2024.
Across three rounds of funding, the four York County school districts received more than $90 million. Rock Hill got more than $54 million. Due to its demographics, with the lowest student poverty rate in three states, Fort Mill got about $8 million despite being the largest district in the county. York received more than $18 million and Clover almost $13 million.
ESSER to general fund dollars
Joe Burke, information officer for the Fort Mill School District, said schools there face similar questions as the ones mulled in Clover.
“We are probably not facing as many positions as some districts but we do have nine positions that were hired under ESSER II funds that we plan to move to the general fund budget for next year,” Burke said.
Those positions include teaching, mental health, curriculum and administrative workers. The general fund will take on about $950,000 in that switch.
Rock Hill has 76 current positions funded through the third round of ESSER.
“Our plan is to keep each position,” said district spokesperson Lindsay Machak. “Through attrition, we will cover these positions with our general fund.”
Quinn presented options this week for her board.
One plan to transfer positions from ESSER to general fund budgeting involved the equivalent of 16 full-time teachers. There were behavior technicians at four schools and math intervention positions at eight. Six more positions would lower or maintain class sizes at elementary and middle schools. Those 16 equivalent positions — 18 total positions — focus heavily on Title 1 schools or grade levels where intervention is critical to curb pandemic learning loss.
The estimated combined cost of those positions is more than $1.3 million.
A more streamlined focus that includes 11 full-time equivalent positions would keep math intervention spots at Title 1 schools, behavior technicians and teachers to reduce class sizes. It would cost more than $920,000. Quinn said the district can use ESSER funds one more year for the remaining spots.
“That would give the board the option to phase in these math interventionists over a two-year budget cycle,” Quinn said, “as opposed to trying to do them all in one.”
Even that plan won’t come easy.
“That is under $1 million,” Quinn said, “but that is still a pretty hefty price tag to the budget. This is a critical decision.”
Intervention or other positions from ESSER that don’t transition to the general fund could be moved into vacant positions. Quinn said the district wants to honor contracts. An option is to move a position into an existing general fund spot vacated by a retiring teacher.
“There’s a domino effect,” Quinn said.
Need for teachers
The decisions come as area districts continue to need more teachers at a time when they can be hard to find.
Fort Mill continues to grow and now has more students than Rock Hill. The York School District approached both York County and the City of York to ask for impact fees as that district sees a surge in new homes. So far the district hasn’t had any new fees approved.
Clover continues plans for a new middle and high school. Board member Rob Wallace said ESSER to general fund decisions are difficult in light of the bigger funding picture.
“Our budget numbers are (going up) right now,” Wallace said. “I mean, it was a lot last year. At some point we’ve got to prioritize.”
Quinn presented the board with growth needs based on the more than 500 new students from last year to this one. It comes out to a dozen teachers across grade levels, at a cost of almost $970,000. More teachers are an every year cost to the district. Costs could vary from that estimate, depending on experience and education levels of new hires.
Board decisions on how to fund ESSER positions moving forward could impact money for summer school, curriculum or HVAC work, among others. The intervention workers would stay on, but could do so in different roles.
“Almost like you’ve got to think about them as growth positions,” Quinn said.
Elementary schools have had reading intervention teachers for years. The pandemic highlighted the importance of math intervention, or help with students who fall behind. Intervention teachers often pull students for one-on-one or small group instruction beyond time in the classroom.
“The classroom teacher is teaching on grade level,” Quinn said. “The interventionist is plugging in holes for off grade level.”
Quinn said she believes strongly in math intervention at elementary schools, where the biggest math score gaps often exist. Clover and other area district officials saw this challenge coming when ESSER funds arrived. At a joint meeting of school boards early last year, administrators from all four districts discussed plans to transition away from funding that had created so many new positions.
Still, positions like math intervention that didn’t exist or weren’t as widespread before the pandemic have shown their value. Making them hard for districts to lose, after seeing results.
“But now we have,” Quinn said, “and we’ve gotten used to it.”
This story was originally published February 23, 2023 at 7:53 AM.
