At the most recent Becker School Board meeting, Superintendent Jeremy Schmidt stated he was continuing to investigate the allocation of ESSER II funding, and what could be done to more fairly distribute the funds to the schools that need it. Following is an article which explains what ESSER II Funding is and why local superintendents are upset about the fund distribution.

What is ESSER II Funding?

ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) funding is government funding to help schools pay for unexpected costs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Congress awarded about $13.2 billion in ESSER I funding to schools around the nation, while ESSER II funding (the most recent round of funding, which will be the subject of this article) awarded $54.3 billion nationwide. These funds were allocated to schools using part A of Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. This is the act that later created the framework for the “No Child Left Behind” act. Title I refers to the provision under the act which singles out schools that have low-income families to receive more funding. In other words, school districts with high poverty levels receive more funding.

Title I Vs. Title II

The problem, according to Becker Superintendent Jeremy Schmidt, was the decision to use Title I to guide the distribution of ESSER Funding. While Title I is a good model for normal school funding throughout the year, as it helps impact impoverished students, Schmidt argues that this was not the way to go for COVID-19 relief funding.

“Every school has been affected by COVID,” Schmidt said. “Every student, every facility, every staff.”

Schools all across the nation were forced to shut down due to COVID-19, regardless of the income level of those schools’ families. Many students are struggling due to the lack of face-to-face interaction with teachers. 

This is why Schmidt believes that Title II funding should have been used to determine the distribution of funds. Title II, alternatively, is designed to support teachers based on student population and poverty counts. So low-income area students are still taken into consideration, but so is the number of students who attend each school.

Unbalanced Funding

This issue slid under the radar for the first round of funding, since only $13.2 billion were distributed to all the public school districts in the country, while nearly four times that amount is being distributed in the most recent round of funding, with nearly $1 billion being distributed in Minnesota alone, so differences in allocations are much more visible. 

“The largest district in the State of Minnesota, The Anoka-Hennepin School District is receiving $17,000,000 in ESSER funding compared to the second and third largest districts receiving $100,000,000 each, yes each!” Schmidt said. “Are you aware there are schools with under 300 students receiving about $600,000 while schools with over 6,000 students are receiving under $500,000?”  

In the above statement, Schmidt is comparing College Preparatory Elementary against the STMA School District. When there is $1 billion in the pot for state schools, it makes the gaps in funding much more visible. A total of 40% of all the ESSER II funding in the state is serving only 7% of the students.

Schools Struggling 

Jeremy Schmidt is not the only superintendent worried about the situation. Big Lake Superintendent Tim Truebenbach is also concerned about how he will secure funding for his district.

“If the state doesn’t come through with at least an inflationary increase [in general funding], we will struggle,” Truebenbach said. “My biggest concern centers around our loss of enrollment.  I just read in the Star Tribune that the average enrollment loss in Minnesota is 2%. Big Lake is currently down by 2.65%. Fewer students attending our schools equals less revenue to our schools. Less revenue to our schools equals less likelihood to be able to afford offerings. If this continues, all schools across Minnesota will struggle.”

If all schools in Minnesota are struggling with enrollment being down, and with students being absent from the classroom, these two local school leaders feel that the ESSER Funding should have been used to more fairly compensate schools for their struggles, rather than give disproportionately to low-income districts. This was the opportunity to help the schools all around the state who had been struggling with the impact of COVID-19, but it was handled as though it was a bill to help low-income students instead.

How to Fix the Issue

Schmidt says that Governor Tim Walz has the power to shift the funding model from Title I to Title II.  

“Our students need a leader like Governor Walz to continue to stand up and fight for them,” Schmidt said. “[There] is more than enough evidence to show how this is an unfair distribution of our country’s money being used to help out in this time of COVID.”

Any citizens interested in trying to help the situation should contact the Governor’s office at 651-201-3400 or by filling out the contact form at mn.gov/governor/contact/ (though Schmidt noted that he has not received a response from filling out the form.)