ESSER is the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief - or federal COVID relief funding schools across the country received to help them manage operational and academic costs associated with the pandemic. It is important to note that these funds are one-time federal funds where the West Bend School District gets reimbursed from the federal government after the money has been spent and the State of Wisconsin must approve all grant budgets and claims for funding.
ESSER 3
| What ESSER 3 was granted through the American Rescue Plan Act, which was signed into law on March 11, 2021. Find more details on ESSER 3 from the Wisconsin DPI. |
When These funds are available to cover costs during the timeframe between May 2022 through September 30, 2024. |
How Much The West Bend School District was awarded $4,265,819. For both 2022 and 2023, there is no increase in the State of Wisconsin's school district revenue limit. Therefore, some of these funds will be used to balance the overall WBSD budget in 2022 and 2023. |
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Requirements The focus of this third grant was to aggressively address student learning loss and, as a result, it also comes with some additional requirements for use. More information is available on the Wisconsin DPI website. Report Wis. DPI ESSER III LEA Plan Report, West Bend School District, 2021-2022 |
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Feedback/Survey Also required for these funds is consultation with stakeholders, which is an important component of this webpage. While we will continue to monitor our student learning data and social emotional needs to strategically leverage these funds, we invited stakeholders to share ideas and priorities for using the funds. We appreciate all who took the time to both understand what is being suggested by the school district and to provide valuable feedback. |
ESSER 2
| What ESSER 2 was granted through the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, which was signed into law on December 27, 2020, exactly nine months after the CARES Act that provided ESSER 1. More details are provided by the Wisconsin DPI. |
When These funds were available to cover costs during the timeframe between March, 2020 through September 30, 2023, or a year longer than ESSER 1 was available. |
How Much The West Bend School District was awarded $3,102,958 under the ESSER 2 program. |
Requirements Since this program was approved nine months into a pandemic that many thought would have been over already, the US Department of Education encouraged local schools to focus these funds “to take comprehensive action to mitigate learning loss, to restore and maintain high-quality learning environments, and to safely reopen elementary and secondary schools as soon as possible.” (WI DPI) |
How Used For both 2022 and 2023, there is no increase in the State of Wisconsin's school district revenue limit. Therefore, some of these funds will be used to balance the overall WBSD budget. In addition, the funds went to additional custodial cleaning time, health room staff, additional instructional staff for: English Language Arts, elementary math, intermediate and middle classroom instruction; and high school English Language Arts and math. |
CARES/ESSER 1
| What ESSER 1 was granted through the CARES Act, which was signed into law on March 27, 2020, just a couple of weeks after the shutdown. The Wisconsin DPI provides additional information. |
When These funds were available to cover costs during the timeframe between March, 2020 through September 30, 2022. |
How Much The West Bend School District was awarded $427,892. |
Requirements This program was approved quickly after the national shutdown so the funding was rather "open," but included the request to reopen and return to face-to-face instruction. The funding could be used on mitigation measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and safely reopening schools. |
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How Used The funds were used by the West Bend School District for COVID-19 mitigation and cleaning supplies; additional custodial cleaning time; virtual internet connections; technology devices for in-person and virtual learners; and learning materials. |
