What Is ESSER and What Does that Have to Do With The Budget?

Kelly Bowen, CVSD School Board Finance Committee Chair, has shared the following on Front Porch Forum in each CVSD town. It's the next in a series of posts to help inform voters about the proposed budget for 2022-2023. 

Dear CVSD Community Members and Voters,

This is the third post in a series to update you on the upcoming 2022-2023 proposed school district budget. Look for bi-weekly updates on Front Porch Forum or other school news outlets.

In this post, I will talk about the third installment of ESSER funding including: What does ESSER stand for? Where do ESSER funds come from? How much money will CVSD receive in this third grant? How does ESSER impact CVSD? While ESSER funds are not included in our budget financials, it is important for taxpayers to understand how these federal funds impact CVSD.

What do ARP and ESSER stand for?

ARP is the American Rescue Plan of 2021. ESSER is the acronym for the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund. ESSER Funds were allocated in three separate grant offerings. ESSER 1, ESSER 2, and this final round of funds ARP ESSER.

Where do ARP ESSER funds come from?

ESSER funds are federal tax dollars that the US Government allocated to schools to support pandemic recovery. CVSD receives funds via the Vermont Agency of Education (AOE) that manages Vermont’s grant.

How much money will CVSD receive?

ESSER funds are allocated to each school district based on a formula that considers the proportion of students receiving free and reduced-price meals to the whole of the student population. Like any grant, all ESSER funds come with spending restrictions, and ARP ESSER funds must be used over the next three years.

CVSD's ARP ESSER grant amount is $4,351,752 or $374 per student/per year of the three year grant term. This 4.4 million dollar grant is welcome and will be used constructively. But, to keep it in fiscal perspective, compared to our annual cost per pupil, the ARP ESSER grant translates to $374/per student or less than 2% of annual per student spending ($18,454.)

For the upcoming 2022-2023 year, ARP ESSER funds will be used to fund eleven professional positions including: social workers, school counselors, and reading and math specialists.

For details about all ESSER Funds including ARP ESSER Funding and CVSD’s COVID Recovery Plan visit: https://sites.google.com/cvsdvt.org/cvsdrecovery/home

As Finance Committee Chair, I appreciate and share the public’s concern for fiscal conservatism. Please reach out to me: kbowen@cvsdvt.org if I can be of assistance.

Kind regards,

Kelly A. Bowen, CVSD Finance Committee Chair

Please join the CVSD INFORMATIONAL MEETING via Zoom on Monday, February 28, 2022, at 5:00. ZOOM meeting information: https://www.cvsdvt.org/budget or directly: https://cvsdvt-org.zoom.us/j/88634652241 Meeting ID: 886 3465 2241 - Passcode: cvsd11

Phone Participation: 1-646-876-9923 - Passcode: 854788

More information:

Budget Page www.cvsdvt.org/budget
Annual Report https://www.cvsdvt.org/Page/602
2022-2023 Budget Flyer https://bit.ly/CVSDBudgetFlyerFY23
Budget FAQ’s https://bit.ly/CVSDBudgetFY23FAQs

See the Annual Warning on the budget page of our website for all of the ballot articles. We encourage all eligible residents in Champlain Valley School District towns to vote on March 1st or earlier.