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FEDERAL FUNDING, CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
Photos: Courtesy of McKinney ISD
By Dr. Abigail Hobart, Region 10 ESC Federal Programs Administrator
THE GOAL of educational funding is to have a direct and meaningful impact on students, teachers, and the overall local education agency (LEA). Federal education funds provide LEAs the opportunity to service students in supplemental ways that would otherwise not be available. Additionally, federal grants help further bridge the support for our most at-risk students, schools, and families. Federal funds have played a big role in recent years, especially since the pandemic.
The pandemic created new learning gaps among students, more pronounced Social Emotional Learning (SEL) needs among students, and higher demands from all public school educators. Federal funding has been able to lessen these post-pandemic barriers by providing LEAs with supplemental funding to address these new challenges. The mindset of continuous improvement, coupled with innovative federal funding plans, has led three Region 10 districts to experience high levels of student achievement and engage in innovative funding plans despite the new barriers that public schools face. Like many others across Texas, these school districts saw the challenges created by the pandemic as an opportunity to use the additional federal funds to have a greater impact on their students, teachers and communities.
FEDERAL FUNDING
CONTINUOUS
McKinney ISD
MCKINNEY ISD receives Title I, Part A federal funding. These federal funds are used to improve the quality of education programs and ensure students from low-income families have opportunities to meet challenging state assessments. Finch Elementary, a McKinney ISD campus, is an example of a Title I campus that has continued to grow their students regardless of the pandemic barriers that public schools have faced in the past couple of years.
Finch Elementary demographics: • 73% of their students are economically disadvantaged, • 61% of their students are English Learners, and • 21% of their students participate in a special education program
Finch Elementary also received an “A” TEA Rating for the 2021-2022 academic year. This is an example of a campus that has had the mindset of continuous improvement and intentionally using Title I funds to further support and improve the quality of education for all students that are part of the Finch Elementary learning community.
FEDERAL FUNDING
IMPROVEMENT
Photos: Courtesy of Celina ISD
Celina ISD
CELINA ISD received ESSER III federal grant funds. These federal funds were provided to LEAs to specifically address the additional needs that the pandemic brought to public schools. There are numerous ESSER grants that were available to LEAs. The ESSER III grant, however, is unique in the sense that it requires LEAs to set aside a specific percentage of these funds to address learning loss and social emotional learning (SEL). Celina ISD saw the opportunity that the ESSER III grant provided for their district. ESSER III funds provided an avenue to address the growing need and support students with intentional SEL support by funding supplemental counselors. In order to develop students who have a mindset of continuous learning and improvement, the social-emotional mindset of the student needs to be developed simultaneously. Celina ISD is a district that has seen the importance of SEL development and has intentionally used ESSER III funds to make a positive impact on students. Taking care of the whole child provides the context for students to thrive and learn.
Prosper ISD
PROSPER ISD
received several of the ESSER grants. These federal grants provided an opportunity for LEAs to address unforeseen challenges brought about by the pandemic. In addition, the ESSER grants have provided a platform for innovative expenditure planning to take place. The needs during the pandemic were like no other. For the first time, LEAs were transitioning to a remote model of teaching and learning. With the ESSER grants, Prosper ISD was able to continue providing the opportunity of remote learning for an additional year for their students. The remote learning option for the students of Prosper ISD was possible through the 2021-2022 academic year. The district realized that a population of their students would benefit from the remote option for an additional year and decided to use these federal funds to address this need. Prosper ISD’s mindset of continuous improvement, coupled with intentional and innovative funding plans, created an opportunity to ensure that different contexts of learning were available for their students as they were transitioning to a post-pandemic learning environment. Prosper ISD embraced the challenge and reinvented the learning for their students to continue thriving in the mist of the pandemic.
Photos: Courtesy of Prosper ISD
