The Louisiana Department of Education recently announced in a press release that it will commit $4 billion in congressional stimulus funds to combat instructional gaps made apparent by the pandemic. The $4 billion investment is provided through Congress’s Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund.
School systems will be able to access these funds through a grant application program called “Achieve!” This grant program will provide districts with a budgeting process and planning method set to support priority-aligned educational initiatives through September 2024.
Dr. Cade Brumley, the Louisiana State Superintendent of Education, added to the excitement by announcing that the state would additionally invest another $300 million to support educators, students, parents, and their larger communities. This amount is in addition to the state’s announced $4 billion capital infusion that is funded by three separate stimulus recovery packages approved by Congress in recent sessions.
The LDOE press release stated that over 90% of these state funds will be fed directly into Louisiana school systemswith the remaining 10% being allocated to stakeholders in schools and communities. Speaking on both the state’s billion-dollar investment as well as his office’s pledged $300 million, Dr. Brumley stated: “this once-in-a-lifetime resource gives us a chance to make short and long term impact for students across our state. We must overcome the very real pandemic-related deficits, but also recognize this catalyst opportunity to be better for our future.”
To determine where their recovery efforts would best be served, the LDOE had asked community stakeholders to identify the top areas where school systems needed the most support from the stimulus. The following were identified as the main areas to address: “student engagement and attendance, mental health and well-being, support for learner’s diverse needs, and academic recovery and acceleration.”
At the conclusion of the 2020-2021 school year, the American Enterprise Institute had recognized Louisiana for having the eighth most aggressive reopening plan in the nation while also being the state with the seventh-greatest percentage of students actively participating in daily, face-to-face instruction. As the school year concluded, Louisiana reportedly had over 70% of its students participating in face-to-face instruction on a daily basis.
Despite the multitude of mitigation efforts implemented by the LDOE in the previous school year, many gaps in academics, student-offered services, educator development, and other areas began to emerge not just for Louisiana but the United States as a whole. These barriers to higher quality learning were made much more apparent and prevalent due to the pandemic, thus signifying an area for growth.
The over $4 billion investment announced by the Louisiana Department of Education will be used to close these academic, instructional, and educational gaps while also following the direction of guidelines previously unveiled by the Department in January 2021.
The stimulus plan is called “Believe to Achieve: Educational Priorities,” and it aims to serve as the state’s blueprint for combating any loss to instruction, particularly for the most vulnerable of Louisiana students. In the full statement, Dr. Brumley commented on the plan, saying that it’s being implemented at an opportune time when both public trust as well as transparency are necessary within all levels of the government. He added that “this multi-year plan will provide long-lasting, positive outcomes for Louisiana students. Our department was already committed to enriching student lives, but this influx of funds will provide an opportunity to create a more robust learning experience for every learner, especially following a year of unprecedented academic and emotional challenges.”
LDOE assured the public that the Department would keep stakeholders informed throughout the implementation of the “Achieve!” program by committing to keep the public up to date on the following three tenets:
- Transparency of funds.
- Planning that is priorities-based and strategic.
- Collectively impactful investments.
LDOE is set to release a fiscal dashboard in August to report on how the state’s school systems are budgeting and spending their relief funds. The dashboard will include both state and local data released on a monthly and quarterly basis.
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