Kenosha Unified taking community input on how to utilize allocation of stimulus funds | Local News | #education | #technology | #training

The funding comes from four allocations in the form of federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief and the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief.

Unified has already earmarked use of the first two federal tranches and the state funding. The final grant in the amount of about $45 million has yet to be allocated.

Last month, the district’s standing committees met to exchange ideas of how the money in the last federal tranche would be put to use.

“ESSER III is the one that requires us to get some community feedback and that’s when we started the feedback process,” she said.

The district is working with community non-profit organizations, such as Building Our Future, to hold town hall-style sessions for additional public input. She said the plan for ESSER III funding expenditures would come before the board in May.

The district has until September 2024 to spend the funding in the final federal allocation. Hamdan said he’s aware of the rumors that have spread in the community that the district is being given a $45 million check.

“That’s not it. We are awarded the ($44.8 million). We haven’t even started spending that money yet,” he said. “That will start next fiscal year.” In fact, the district would spend first and receive reimbursement through the grant.

ESSER III comes with a mandate that 20 percent of the funding be spent on “learning loss,” based on research, and that which is related to the pandemic.

Ormseth described the stimulus funding as the “bridge” to redefining the scale and future size of the district.