$19 Million From $1.9 Trillion Bill Headed To Skokie Area Schools

SKOKIE, IL — Niles Township High School District 219 and its feeder school districts are set to receive more than $19.3 million from the American Rescue Plan, or ARP, the $1.9 trillion economic relief package signed into law last month by President Joe Biden.

The district-level federal funding allocations announced this week come from the third portion of the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief program, dubbed ESSER III.

It includes nearly $122 billion in funding to states and school districts. Of that, $4.5 billion has been set aside for Illinois elementary and high school districts over the next three years, along with $1.3 billion for the state's postsecondary institutions.

The money is intended to help schools safely reopen and remain open, and to address the impact of the pandemic on students, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said last month in a letter to state school chiefs.

"It is particularly important that ARP ESSER funding will enable State and local educational agencies, as well as schools, to support students who have been most severely impacted by the pandemic, which has even further exacerbated the inequities in our education system," Cardona said.

District 219 high schools are set for almost $5.2 million from the latest round of funding, bringing its total to more than $8 million.

Its feeder districts have been allocated an additional $14.2 million from the first three rounds of ESSER:

Golf Elementary School District 67 — $712,226
Skokie School District 68 — $5,221,768
Skokie School District 69 — $6,095,263
Morton Grove School District 70 — $1,138,974 71
Niles Elementary School District 71 — $1,666,480
Fairview School District 72 — $1,575,165
East Prairie School District 73 — $929,029
Skokie School District 73.5 — $2,178,831
Lincolnwood School District 74 — $2,688,686

Combined with money included in the first two rounds of the ESSER program — allocated in last year's Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security, or CARES, Act and January's Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act — Illinois' education system has so far awarded $7.8 billion in federal pandemic relief, with nearly 90 percent of that headed directly to school districts.

EARLIER: Over $8.6 Million In COVID-19 Aid Heads To Skokie Public Schools

The money will support students returning to the classroom after remote or hybrid learning during the COVID-19 pandemic's first year, state officials said.

State Superintendent of Education Carmen Ayala said Illinois' educational institutions have an unprecedented chance to transform the quality of educational opportunities for all its students.

"We have an opportunity with this influx of funding to alter the educational trajectory of our most vulnerable students," Ayala told educators last week in a message. "As much as possible, I encourage you to use this funding to increase in-person instructional time for students, especially those at risk of not being prepared for the next grade level. That could mean expanded summer school, before- or afterschool programs, high-impact tutoring, and an early start to the school year."

Ayala noted Evanston/Skokie School District 65 Superintendent Devon Horton had discussed how the district had use of ESSER funds to double the number of slots for summer learning program at this month's Illinois State Board of Education board meeting.

Other Illinois administrators mentioned how they have used the extra money to close the digital divide, expand summer school, add activities or hire an additional school nurse to help with contact tracing and working with the local health department.

"One important stipulation of the grant is that [local education agencies] must reserve at least 20 percent of the direct allocation to address learning loss through the implementation of evidence-based interventions and to ensure that those interventions respond to students’ social, emotional, and academic needs and address the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on underrepresented student groups," Ayala said.

Applications for grants from the third round of funding open July 1, so projects funded through the program will start in the 2022 fiscal year, Ayala said. Districts may use money from all three rounds of coronavirus relief for costs going back to March 13, 2020. They have until the end of September 2024 to spent the latest allocation.

State education officials this week released the 180-page Learning Renewal Resource Guide to school districts. It contains input from more than 300 stakeholders about ideas for how to spend the unprecedented influx of new federal funding.

“This guide provides a roadmap for how our education system can emerge from the pandemic stronger, with even greater capacity to close gaps and achieve equity," Ayala said in a statement announcing the guide. "That journey begins with getting students back into the classroom as soon and as much as possible.”