The coronavirus national emergency has ended, but Toledo Public and Washington Local school districts still have millions in pandemic funding left over to spend in the next year.
Out of the more than $194.2 million received as part of the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund and other similar pandemic funding, Toledo Public Schools has spent roughly 70 percent, or $133 million. Washington Local Schools, meanwhile, has likewise spent close to 70 percent — or $15.3 million — of its $22.5 million.
All told, close to $70 million remains to be spent by both districts — roughly $60 million left over for Toledo Public Schools and $7.2 million by Washington Local Schools.
The funding was distributed to school districts to cover costs incurred because of the pandemic. It is also meant to provide financial relief to help students recover learning time lost when classrooms were closed.
But the one-time funding also stipulated that it had to be spent before October, 2024. And so throughout the past two years, both the Toledo Public and Washington Local districts have funneled money toward purchasing laptops and textbooks, hiring psychologists and intervention specialists to help students with their social, behavioral, and educational needs, and extending summer school and other education programs.
Toledo Public Schools treasurer Ryan Stechschulte said district officials focused on funding four main areas: learning recovery and support, teacher training, technology upgrades, and infrastructure improvements.
The district spent $119 million in learning and recovery, which included about $24.6 million upgrading the district’s virtual school and $18.6 million toward purchasing new textbooks, both handheld and online. Close to $8 million went to extending summer school programs.
“One of the things that we've been stressing is that our objective has been to use the funding for more one-time expenses versus hiring staff and so forth,” Mr. Stechschulte said in a recent interview. "Because that would be a recurring expense that we wouldn't be able to afford after the [funding] runs out.”
Washington Local Schools spokesman Katie Peters said district officials’ primary goal has been to offset parents’ financial burden and provide additional programming to help students.
So funding went toward summer camps and afterschool programming, supplemental digital resources, and professional development for teachers and staff.
According to the district’s financial report, officials used more than $5.2 million to hire more staff. They include technology and testing monitors, health aides, intervention and instructional support specialists, psychologists and counselors, and long-term substitute teachers.
The funding "allowed our educators to provide exactly what our students needed without sacrificing other necessary things in order to do so,” Ms. Peters said. “While we are grateful for the gift of these funds, it's disappointing that these opportunities are not readily available to public schools all the time, as investing in students would seem to be a pretty important priority of the federal government.
“All kids deserve access to experiences that will ignite their passions, not just kids from affluent communities,” she added.
With the funding running out next year, district officials are looking to eliminate roughly 34 of those 81 full and part-time positions, abolishing most of those by the end of June.
Ms. Peters said most of the added positions will instead have been absorbed into the general fund by the fiscal year 2024-25. The estimated added cost to the general fund will be just under $3 million, financial documents show.
Meanwhile, officials from both districts have yet to determine how the remaining 30 percent of their respective pandemic funding will be spent in the next year. Mr. Stechschulte said students are still feeling the effects of the pandemic academically, socially, and psychologically. Staff members are continuing to look for ways to lessen the fallout.
For now, he said officials are working to reassess district programs to determine how to proceed in the next year.
“There is no crystal ball at this time on that,” Mr. Stechschulte said. “But we just keep assessing and trying to find different ways to help our students.”
First Published May 8, 2023, 11:16 a.m.
