By Chris Fox
The meeting of Elmhurst Community Unit School District 205 Board held on Tuesday, April 26 featured a presentation about how the district plans to spend its Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Act (ESSER) funds. The federal ESSER funds are related to addressing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since March 2020, the district has been allocated about $4.1 million in supplemental federal spending. The district has so far spent about $1.24 million of that funding. The district is developing a plan on how to spend the remaining $2.9 million in funding. The $2.9 million in funds remaining includes about $2.1 million in ESSER III funding. The district hasn’t spent any of the approximate $2.1 million.
The district has received about $956,000 in ESSER II funding. District 205 has so far spent about $677,000 of its ESSER II funds. At the outset of the pandemic, the district spent about $283,000 on personal protective equipment (PPE), technology purchases and other expenses.
The district recently learned that it would be receiving a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant for about $279,000, which will reimburse the district for most of its purchases made at the start of the pandemic.
The ESSER III funding must be spent by September of 2024, and at least 20 percent of the funding must address learning loss through the implementation of evidence-based interventions.
