More Than A Billion Dollars Of COVID Support Coming To NJ Schools

NEW JERSEY - As Garden State students, parents and educators stumble into the one-year mark of pandemic learning, Governor Phil Murphy shared that more than a billion dollars in aid is coming to offset COVID-19 difficulties.

“We know our students and educators have had a difficult year,” said Murphy. “Providing our school communities with increased flexibility and support is essential to move our education system forward. The additional federal funds will allow districts to best meet the individual needs of their students during this challenging time.”

New Jersey Department of Education Acting Commissioner Dr. Angelica Allen-McMillan said “The Road Forward,” is a series of coordinated policy initiatives that dramatically expand the Administration’s efforts to identify and address the academic and mental health impacts of COVID-19 on New Jersey students and educators.

Murphy also noted that his office will also be submitting an application to the federal government for the Emergency Assistance for Non-Public Schools federal program.

"This will allow the New Jersey Department of Education to provide COVID-19 grant assistance to our non-public K-12 schools," he said.

As part of this coordinated initiative, $1.2 billion in federal COVID-19 relief funds will be made available to districts, including grants dedicated specifically to research-based instructional and mental health interventions. Additionally, the Governor and Acting Commissioner announced that the Administration is seeking public comment and will submit a request to the U.S. Department of Education (USED) to waive federal requirements to administer statewide assessments this spring.

“Educators and students have endured a great deal over the past eleven months,” Acting Commissioner Allen-McMillan said. “These additional federal funds will support targeted initiatives to enhance academic enrichment and mental health interventions for all students and educators.”

But perhaps most significantly, schools may apply for $30 million worth of non-competitive grant funding to help strengthen mental health support. Since the onset of the pandemic, many districts faced an uptick of mental health concerns in students and faculty that these funds are designed to help address.

Beyond that, there will be State set-aside funds to help broaden the use of “Start Strong” assessment program. The program is support for educators, students, and caregivers using assessment tools and resources from home.

Murphy said that because he had not received an answer from the Biden administration, the New Jersey Department of Education will be applying to the federal government for a waiver of statewide standardized testing administration and accountability requirements amid the pandemic.

“A waiver will prevent another disruption that pulls our students away from real learning and will ensure we have more time to focus on meeting their critical immediate needs," said Marie Blistan, President of the New Jersey Education Association.

Here's how it works:

On March 15, the DOE will release applications for $1.2 billion in federal ESSER II funds (Federal Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021, Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund). The funds will be distributed as follows:

• As required by legislation, a minimum of 90 percent of New Jersey’s ESSER II funds will be allocated to local education agencies (LEAs) in the same proportion as those funds received under Part A of Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended, in school year 2020-2021.
• Two grant opportunities will provide a total of $105 million to support districts in providing additional academic and mental health supports.
• $75 million Learning Acceleration Grant: 75 percent of a district’s allocation will be used to support research-based academic enrichment activities, such as one-on-one intensive tutoring and summer learning academies, and 25 percent will be used for strategies to support the broader learning ecosystem.
• $30 million Mental Health Grant: Funds will be used to assist districts in implementing school-based mental health supports for all students and educators. These grants will assist school districts in building a tiered, sustainable intervention model of comprehensive mental health supports and services.
• The DOE will use ESSER II State set-aside funds to provide assistance to non-Title I LEAs, County Special Services School Districts, Education Services Commissions, Jointure Commissions, Division of Children and Families, Department of Corrections, Juvenile Justice Commission, and the Juvenile Detention Centers.

To assist districts in leveraging these federal funds effectively, the DOE has posted to its website a clearinghouse of successful practices that New Jersey school districts have identified as notable achievements in mitigating the challenges posed by COVID-19. These district-reported successes are categorized by county, district size, and topic area to facilitate meaningful collaboration and learning opportunities between similarly-situated districts.

Requesting a Statewide Assessment Waiver

The Administration recognizes that amid the severe disruptions caused by COVID-19, statewide assessments will detract from schools’ efforts to focus on students’ social-emotional health, wellness, and individualized academic and behavioral supports. Therefore, the DOE is making available for public comment a request to the USED to waive federal requirements to administer statewide assessments this spring, including the New Jersey Student Learning Assessment, ACCESS for ELLs, and the Dynamic Learning Maps alternate assessment for students with the most significant intellectual disabilities. The waiver request also addresses federal requirements regarding the use of statewide assessments in federal accountability systems. If USED approves this waiver request, the spring 2021 administration of the statewide assessments will be canceled.

Evaluating and Ensuring Student Readiness

To fill data gaps caused by interrupted statewide assessment administration and to ensure that students are making meaningful growth toward grade-level standards, the DOE will collect data from locally administered assessments that provide a snapshot of student learning during this school year. The DOE will provide additional guidance regarding this data collection later this month.

In Fall 2021, the DOE will provide all districts with the formative assessment known as Start Strong. Using the lessons learned from the initial administration this past fall, the upcoming and improved Start Strong assessments will better enable districts to collect timely, actionable, standards-based student performance data at the beginning of the school year.
The DOE will also pilot the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA) this fall. The KRA is designed to be administered to incoming kindergarteners, measuring school readiness in the domains of social foundations, language and literacy, mathematics, and physical well-being. Administration of the KRA will provide participating districts with data depicting how prepared their students are for kindergarten. The tool will give educators and families the information needed to adjust, improve, and target teaching and related resources to the needs of their students.

"I would put what we're doing here in this state up against any state in America," Murphy said.

Those who want additional information, including district allocations, can view the DOE’s February 19, 2021 broadcast memo.

Thanks for reading! Learn more about posting announcements or events to your local Patch site. Have a news tip you'd like to share? Got photos? Please include express written permission from the photographer for us to use them. Or maybe you have a press release you would like to submit or a correction you'd like to request? Send an email to russ.crespolini@patch.com

Subscribe to your local Patch newsletter. You can also have them delivered to your phone screen by downloading, or by visiting the Google Play store.