Superintendent presents final COVID update from schools

PALMER — After the last day of school for Mat-Su Borough School District students on May 21, the district successfully completed an entire year of in-person instruction amidst a global pandemic. MSBSD Superintendent Dr. Randy Trani was thankful in his final COVID-19 report to the school board of the year.

“This hopefully is one of the last times I talk about covid,” said Trani.

Throughout the year, 24 of the 47 MSBSD schools were able to remain open 90 percent of the school year or more. There were 14 schools open 95 percent or more, nine that were open 92 percent or more and one open 90 percent or more. Just four schools fell below 90 percent with three at 87 percent and one at 83 percent open.

“My hat is off to all of the thousands, literally thousands of employees it took to pull this one off. You’ve heard me talk a whole lot about you know we’re the largest school district on the west coast that was able to do this and so anytime you see somebody that worked for a school this year just thank them. I’ve been trying to do that as much as possible,” said Trani.

MSBSD Director of Federal Programs Dr. Katherine Ellsworth presented to the board on the third round of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds making their way to the school board, seeking direction on when the board would vote on accepting the funds as an action item.

“We have received our third round of ESSER funds, ESSER three through the American Rescue Plan and it was $35.5 million,” said Ellsworth.

The relief funding will likely be presented to the board as an action item during their final meeting of the summer on June 2 before an extended break. Ellsworth detailed that the approximately $4 million in ESSER one funds will need to be spent by June 30 of 2022 and the $16 million in ESSER two funds will need to be spent by June 30 of 2023, but that beginning in 2022 any monies left over will be added to the next portion.

“The reason to not wait until August to accept them is one of the requirements is within 30 days of receiving the funds, we have to create a mitigation plan to open school with our stakeholders. So that 30 day clock started on Monday,” said Ellsworth. “There is stakeholder input into that. So we have recommendations on how the money could be spent but just like the budget that you’ve adopted for FY 22 and FY 21 that you amend and revise along the way, there would be opportunities to revise that so I would recommend then if it’s adopted now we work with stakeholders over the summer. The plan is in place, then it’s brought back to you in the fall for final adoption.”

The ESSER funds are permitted for use on allowable costs such as learning loss, professional development for leaders, before and after school programs, supplementing other Federal programs, special education and health and safety precautions. Ellsworth said that the 15 categories that funding must fall into are incredibly broad. School Board Member Ryan Ponder asked for clarification on the funding guidelines.

“There are guidelines for its use. I would say out of all the Federal dollars that we have received, these are the most flexible that we have ever had,” said Ellsworth. “I kind of find it ironic that the one major requirement is that we have a mitigation plan when we’ve had one all year, so that’s going to be like a no brainer for us. We’ll be able to do that pretty easy.”

The sunset date for expenditures coming from the $35.5 million in ESSER three funds is June 30 of 2024.

“These Federal funds are different than other grants in that they can actually supplement our current activities, they can backfill our existing operation in areas where there’s allowable cost and so that’s what’s happening at the state level as well. They’re using the Federal funds to help support current operations as is happening across the United States because the Federal funds were intended to support decrease in local and state backing,” said Assistant Superintendent of Business and Operations Luke Fulp. “What the board will see is, they will see this now next meeting if they choose to do so but then you will also see it in the fall as we talk about how it may be used to support current operation.”