$1B Chance Looms To ​“Transform” Learning

Summer camp scholarships. Free student access to museums. Tens of millions of dollars to address learning loss. Hundreds of millions more in direct aid to local education boards — including $79.9 million, not $94 million, for New Haven schools.

A state official came to town to dangle those possibilities.

The official, Acting State Education Commissioner Charlene Russell-Tucker, came to New Haven Tuesday afternoon to describe that tranche of federal education aid that will soon be making its way to towns and cities across Connecticut.

Russell-Tucker, state Deputy Education Commissioner Desi Nesmith, and Gov. Ned Lamont were the featured speakers at an hourlong meet-up hosted by the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM) on the ground floor of 545 Long Wharf Dr.

CCM convened the gathering of roughly two dozen municipal and state leaders to discuss how local governments can best work with the governor’s office on how to spend the billions of dollars in pandemic-era aid coming to the Nutmeg State thanks to the federal American Rescue Plan act (ARP).

A lion’s share of Tuesday’s talk focused on the roughly $1.1 billion in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ARP ESSER) money included for Connecticut in that federal aid package, and on the host of short- and mid-term projects the state plans to support in a bid to help young people climb out of an exceedingly challenging 15 months of isolation and disrupted learning.

“How do we use this opportunity to build back better?” Russell-Tucker asked, noting that the $1.1 billion in education-related aid coming to the state is indeed ​“a billion with a ​‘B,’” and therefore presents an unprecedented opportunity to support students across Connecticut.

“We’re not just looking at the summer or fall, we’re looking at the long-term play here,” added Nesmith. ​“We have an opportunity to use this money to make some significant changes in education in this state. … [Since] summer is right in front of us, that takes precedence. But what do we need to do to transform and make long-term, lasting changes to this profession in this state?”

The discussion took place one day after NHPS Superintendent Iline Tracey informed the Board of Education that the city school system’s ARP ESSER allocation will be $79.9 million, roughly $14 million less than the amount her administration previously believed NHPS would receive. (Click here for an article by the Register’s Linda Conner Lambeck for more on that discrepancy.)

It also comes as New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) administrators continue to map out how the city school system plans to spend the flood of federal aid making its way to New Haven classrooms. Click here to read a recent Independent article about a schools budget presentation where top NHPS staff described plans to hire dozens of new elementary school teachers, set up a ​“twilight school” for high school students with day jobs, run a host of new K‑12 summer camps, and hire six ​“care coordinators” charged with supporting students and families in need.

“To Be The Shining Example I Know We Can Be”

Russell-Tucker explained that the ARP ESSER funds coming to Connecticut are broken out into two large chunks: $995 million that must be allocated directly to local school systems, and a $110 million state set-aside where the governor and the state Department of Education have some say in how that money can be spent.

She said that the federal aid package requires that 20 percent — or $199 million of that $995 million in direct municipal school system aid — be used to address learning loss during the pandemic.

And she said that the state will be putting an additional $55 million from its $110 million pot to address learning loss, $11 million to fund summer enrichment programs, and another $11 million to support after school programs.

Russell-Tucker listed five top priorities the state is encouraging municipal school systems to focus on as they spend this new flood of federal aid. Those include:

• Learning acceleration, academic renewal, and student enrichment;
• Family and community connections;
• Social, emotional, and mental health of students and school staff;
• Strategic use of technology, staff development, and addressing the digital divide;
• Building safe and healthy schools

As for the $110 million state set-aside, she said, the governor’s office has proposed funding a handful education-related initiatives. Those include:

• $15 million to support free admission at Connecticut museums, aquariums, and other educational venues for state residents age 18 and younger;
• $1.5 million to help recruit up to 500 students statewide to work in summer programs as part of a ​“summer college corp”;
• $3.5 million for scholarships to sports and specialty camps for children at or below 50 percent of the state median income;
• $1.9 million for community programs that focus on provide safe places for teens to spend the summer.

And she said that the state has launched ​“summer enrichment expansion and innovation grants” program that has already received 310 applications from municipal school systems across the state.

“The issue of partnerships, authentic partnerships, across sectors is really what we need in order for kids to survive,” Russell-Tucker concluded. ​“I want to be able to say, as the acting commissioner of education, for everyone to be able to look at Connecticut and say, ​‘How did they do it? How did they accelerate student learning [with this federal aid]?’ And to be the shining example I know we can be.”

“Make The Case For What Works”

During the question and answer session of Tuesday’s meetup, Mayor Justin Elicker (pictured) raised a concern expressed by alders and city school officials alike during a recent budget hearing on how such an avalanche of federal aid might affect city school operations going forward.

“We’re feeling the tension of having a three, four year opportunity, and when the funding ends, making sure that we’re not stuck with a lot of additional staff,” the mayor said.

This is an opportunity to make some significant long term-changes, he continued. But there is also a risk that the local school district builds out programs and hires staff with this short term-aid, and then runs up against a funding cliff a few years out.

“How do you expect in a few years down the road, when this funding dries up, how can we continue that funding going forward?”

Russell-Tucker said that this is a question she hears frequently from local school systems across the state. The money’s here now. But what about when it all goes away three years from now?

While local school systems need to be ​“strategic” about how they’re doing hiring with this grant money, she said, now is also a time to experiment and see what works.

“I believe that if we use this time well, and if we can show results at the end of this, I believe it positions us well to say, ​‘These are the things that work,’” and then to go to private philanthropies to help fund those initiatives even after this federal aid goes away.

“Let’s use this money to show real outcomes, so we can say these things work and these things should continue,” she concluded. ​“That’s where I’d like to land at the end of this: To make the case for what works.”