From High-End Training to Face Masks – How the School District Spent COVID Money

In early February this year, 87 staff members of the Churchill County School District traveled to Colorado Springs, Colorado, staying at the Broadmoor Resort and Hotel, a five-star resort where they participated in the Modern Teacher Conference. Budgeted costs for the training and travel, as reflected in the Nevada Federal Relief Tracker, were roughly $148,000. 

During the February 8, 2023, school board meeting, Superintendent Summer Stephens reported that staff was returning that day from the professional development conference, including classified, licensed, and long-term subs. “I know sometimes it can be concerning because it does cost money, but ultimately it is our responsibility as a district to ensure that the people we have in front of kids every day, no matter what your role is, do have all the tools they need to make the impact we want them to make.”

She explained that since the beginning of the school year, the district has been able to provide several opportunities for professional development and when she thinks about the large amount of training given to the staff, “it has been amazing and I’m grateful we had the opportunity. It was probably a once-in-a-lifetime.” 

That’s just one example of how Churchill County School District is using $7,280,880, or $2,275 per student, in federal COVID relief aid that the district received as part of the money Nevada received since March of 2020 from three separate funding packages. The federal government allocated billions of dollars to K-12 grade education through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER), with three separate allocations of money: ESSER I, ESSER II, and ARP ESSER.

The Nevada Department of Education has developed the website, Nevada Federal Relief Tracker, at NevadaESSER.org, to inform the public how that relief money was allocated and being spent by school officials across the state to help students, and staff through the pandemic, and move beyond it.

Roughly 90% of the $1.6 billion Nevada received went directly to local districts and charter schools. The rest was set aside for the Nevada Department of Education to allocate as grants. Of that funding, Clark County School District received $1.2 billion, Washoe got $123 million, and the State Public Charter School Authority received $83 million which was distributed to the 73 sponsored charter schools across the state.

According to the website, which was last updated on February 3, 2023, Churchill budgeted and spent the entire $508.6 thousand of the ESSER I money. The ESSER II fund shows $2.1 million budgeted, $1.6 million spent, and $519.1 thousand remaining. The budgeted $4.7 million of the ARP ESSER funding is waiting to be spent. Of that $4.7 million, $3.2 million is budgeted for staff, $221.8 thousand is budgeted for supplies, $1 million for services and $211.3 thousand is designated “other.”

One of the line items in the ARP ESSER is the Career Development Coordinator at the high school for Fiscal Year 2023 in the amount of $52,515 which falls under the Services category. According to the narrative description in the report, that position will work with Career and Technical Education along with Work Based Learning as the district offers multiple paths toward graduation to prepare all students for college, career, and life. Plans in this area will be developed to work with Business and Industry as well as high school administrators and counselors to place students in work-based learning opportunities, support counselors in developing academic and career plans with students, and other areas related to CTE.

Under the staff category, the ARP ESSER shows $1,180,000 for salaries, with the narrative explaining that district “employees overcame significant obstacles throughout the past two years, consistently providing the best service and opportunities for our students and families. Staff pulled together and worked collaboratively to demonstrate strength, determination, and perseverance during the COVID-19 pandemic. The physical, mental, and emotional fortitude our employees exhibited throughout this year should be acknowledged and applauded. Therefore, an essential worker’s additional pay used to retain existing staff (employed in FY22) will be paid to address retention challenges in light of the pandemic. In addition, to retain substitutes more effectively in light of the challenges of the pandemic, substitutes who worked at least 500 hours in FY22 will be paid $1000 in August 2022. For district employees, this additional payment will be paid out in FY23 to active employees (regular employees and long-term subs in place as of August 11, 2022, and December 15, 2022). In each period, all regular employees and long-term substitutes employed at the time of the payment will be paid $1500 at each period. This is an estimate as staffing levels are still being set. There is also $602,500 in the ESSER II fund with the same explanation.

Again, under Services in the ARP ESSER funding, Expenditures for Professional Development is a line item for “staff travel (lodging, flights, per diem, ground transportation) calculated at the current GSA rates, for up to 95 staff members to Colorado Springs, CO February 5-8, 2023 for the Modern Teacher Conference to learn strategies to engage learners to address learning loss and learning gaps as a result of the pandemic. Cost not to exceed $97,725.50 and are estimated at this time since exact costs are not yet known.”

Also under that category is staff registrations for the Modern Teacher Conference in Colorado Springs, CO February 5-8, 2022, for up to 95 staff members to learn strategies to engage learners to address learning loss and learning gaps as a result of the pandemic. Costs are not to exceed $51,500 and are estimated at this time since the exact costs are not yet known.

During the early days of the pandemic, the ESSER I fund was used for safety and operations expenses, with the district spending $57,196 on Personal Protective Equipment and sanitizing supplies for students and staff. There were also several line items related to costs for additional hours and overtime for bus drivers as the district managed COVID requirements by5 providing transportation for in-person learning.

This story will be updated as the school district continues to allocate and spend the little over $5 million of federal COVID relief funding at its disposal before it phases out and is gone by the end of the 2024 Fiscal Year.

While the ESSER funding is coming to an end, the Nevada Legislature is working this session to increase K-12 education funding by $2 billion as recommended by Governor Joe Lombardo.