AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |
Back to Blog
Texas school districts budget calendar3/31/2023 The Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSA), passed in December 2020, had another $5.53 billion for Texas schools in the ESSER II Fund.These funds were largely used to finance a “hold harmless” for school districts, ensuring that school districts were fully funded based on initial state appropriations estimates from 2019 despite significant declines in student enrollment in 2020. The CARES Act, passed in March 2020, had $1.29 billion for Texas in the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER I).Texas has received three tranches of federal stimulus funding for education: But the biggest reason may be an unexpected one: Texas spent so much new money on education in House Bill 3 – a much-needed investment that Legislators remain rightly proud of – that the federal spending equations risk producing some unintended outcomes. Rather, a series of legal, financial, and historical barriers have placed Texas in a unique position, unable to deploy these funds without additional federal blessings. So why isn’t the money moving? As with most bureaucratic and budgetary questions, there’s no one simple answer. With learning loss concerns shared across the political spectrum, swift deployment of financial resources for additional learning time, improved curriculum, and teacher training is vital. And only 12% of Texas 5th graders achieved “meets grade level” in science. Only 15% of Texas 4th graders achieved “meets grade level” in math. Earlier this year, the Texas Education Agency reported that optional beginning-of-year assessments found that only 29% of Texas 3rd graders achieved “meets grade level” in reading. As school districts try to plan for additional learning time over the summer to help these kids catch up, they’re keenly aware that efficient use of funding takes time – time for planning, hiring, and curriculum development – while throwing together programs at the last minute can often be more costly and less effective for students.Īnd these efforts are essential. They’re not wrong: the pandemic has had a disproportionately negative impact on many low-income Texas students, and the smart use of federal resources will be arguably the most important tool for helping these young Texans catch up and achieve their full academic potential. Across the state’s op-ed pages, education leaders and advocates have expressed significant frustration with the fact that the state has not released $18 billion in federal stimulus dollars to school districts.
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |