American Rescue Plan (ARP) and Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER III)

American Rescue Plan (ARP) and Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER III)

Community Feedback Form
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Following is a list of state priorities to address identified needs related to the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting impacts on student experience, access, representation, participation, and outcomes. For each priority, identify how important it is for you and your family: very important, somewhat important or not important. Note: the language for these priority items comes directly from the MDE application for ESSER III funding.

Rows	Very Important	Somewhat Important	Not Important
Implement Full Service Community Schools to coordinate resources to mitigate nonacademic challenges for children, students, families and communities. Services could include primary health and dental care, mental health, childcare, career counseling, and enriched learning experiences outside of the schooldays.
Community Partnerships which cover time when the academic program is not in session (before, after, or in providing additional days). They may operate alongside the academic programs offered by schools to help with capacity issues.
Neighborhood Programs to collaborate and, if appropriate, contract with community-based organizations,libraries, parks and recreation departments, tribes and tribal organizations, faith-based organizations, and other similar learning providers to bring learning out of the school and into the neighborhood.
Expanded access to tutoring by offering research-validated tutoring services as well as mental, social, emotional and physical health supports.
Systemic approaches to meet the needs of individual students and ensure all schools effectively implement research-validated additional academic, social, emotional, and physical health services based on targeted, individual needs of students.
Student support personnel (counselors, social workers, school psychologists,school nurses, and chemical dependency)to address shortages of student support services personnel within Minnesota schools and to mitigate the effects of COVID-19.
Expand or add Vocational or Life Skills programming for students receiving Special Education services.
Recruit and retain teachers of color and American Indian teachers (TOCAIT)/ Nationally, TOCAIT represent approximately 20 percent of the teaching workforce, in Minnesota that number is closer to 4 percent.
Teacher mentoring programs to reduce turnover rate for new teachers, in particular teachers of color. The turnover rate is very high for new teachers in general and even higher for teachers of color, in particular. This is a significant contributing factor to widespread teacher shortages in our state, and stronger supports for new teachers will lead to reduced teacher turnover and mobility.
Learning opportunities for high school students to explore the teaching profession that lead to college coursework necessary to become a teacher, or other efforts to create pathways to the teaching profession, particularly to increase teachers of color and Indigenous teachers.
Create and implement systems and strategies to improve family engagement efforts. Research has shown that engaging families in education increases student achievement and decreases dropout rates.
Translation services, cultural liaisons, and culturally-specific public engagement efforts to ensure all families can meaningfully engage in educational programming. Throughout the pandemic, MDE has heard from families, community members, and advocates that their families who do not speak English as a first language are struggling to get needed materials translated in their spoken and read language. This makes it difficult for all families to engage with their child’s education on the same level.
Expand rigorous coursework, such as Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate Career Program (IBCP), Career and Technical Education (CTE), and Concurrent Enrollment courses to foster opportunities for underserved and under -represented students.
Staffing for smaller class sizes and/or staff for interventions or enrichment.
Develop, implement and/or maintain Ethnic Studies in local curriculum and evaluation processes while implementing the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards. Ethnic studies analyzes the ways in which race and racism have been and continue to be powerful social, cultural, and political forces, and race and racism's connections to the stratification of other groups, including stratification based on gender, class, sexual orientation, gender identity and legal status.
Develop, implement and/or maintain Indigenous Education in local curriculum and evaluation processes while implementing the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards. Knowledge of Indigenous peoples brings greater depth and understanding to the long-misinterpreted and often absent history of Indigenous cultures.
Field trips and hands-on learning opportunities include activities such as trips to nature centers, state parks, zoos, museums or theaters. These activities will incentivize student attendance, participation and engagement through learning and enrichment.
Out of school time programming to accelerate learning recovery for students of all ages with additional learning and enrichment opportunities offered by partnering with culturally specific organizations to provide enrichment programming including transportation and meals.
Implement the Kindergarten Entry Program (KEP). It offers districts/charter schools a menu of comprehensive, developmentally appropriate assessments that help teachers and administrators understand what students know and are able to do during the prekindergarten year and/or at the start of kindergarten (as well as throughout the entire kindergarten year)to support their success in kindergarten and beyond.

Which of the following best describes your view of the decision to utilize ESSER III funds to maintain programming rather than make budget cuts for the 2021-2022 school year? Background: St. Louis Park Public Schools has earmarked ESSER III funds to maintain programming due to the loss in enrollment experienced during the COVID19 pandemic. The district experienced a decline in student enrollment of over 100 students in the fall of 2020. This enrollment decline resulted in a decline in revenue and the use of fund balance to cover expenditures during the 2020-21 school year. While enrollment appears to be recovering, the impact of last year's enrollment decline will continue to impact revenue and fund balance for several years. ESSER III funds will be utilized to pay for current programs and staff so that budget cuts would not need to be made. Budget cuts could include cutting academic or extra curricular programs, reducing access to bus transportation, increasing class sizes, cutting administrative supports, among other things.*

AgreeDisagree
I agree with the use of ESSER III funds to maintain programming due to the loss in enrollment experienced during the COVID19 pandemic for the following reason:
I disagree with the use of ESSER III funds to maintain programming due to the loss in enrollment experienced during the COVID19 pandemic for the following reason:
Should be Empty: