OSD receives 50% less enrollment stabilization funds than expected

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Olympia School District received $2.8 million in enrollment stabilization funds, 50% less than they expected to get from the federal government.

In a report to the OSD board of directors during a regular meeting on Thursday, May 26, OSD Assistant Superintendent Jennifer Priddy said they expected $4.7 million in funding.

“I have to report to you that our final allocation which has been calculated by the Office of Superintendent Public Instruction (OSPI) is substantially lower at $2.8 million. It is a complicated calculation that goes through many formulas and calculations,” Priddy explained.

The enrollment stabilization fund addresses enrollment decline due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Priddy said they were dismayed with the amount they received. “But we are not alone in the state. And we are adjusting to this new reality.”

Priddy claimed the OSD spending is on-track and consistent with prior years, withthe cash balance sufficient each upcoming month.

However, Priddy said the OSD used the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER) for expenditures that they did not anticipate.

The OSPI has provided accounting guidance for expenditures using the ESSER fund. Priddy said OSD spends 80% of resources on learning and social-emotional recovery, or over $10 million.

The remaining 20% is for public health measures.

“We are spending more quickly in order to address those public health measures. We are also spending more of our extra funding to support the classroom teachers that we hired. We have had some planned spending that did not undertake – like hiring,” Priddy said.

The OSD is spending $953,000 on public health measures, something that they did not anticipate that they would continue to invest in.

The school district also spent $960,000 on classroom teachers, who are not supported by the enrollment stabilization fund.

“Therefore, we have about $470,000 less to spend in SY 2022-2023 and $0 to spend in SY2023-2024,” she said.

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