Kansas City schools got federal funds to help kids learn. Can they keep that success going?
Schools in Missouri received millions of dollars in federal pandemic aid to keep students safe and bolster learning. But with the deadline approaching to spend the money, districts now have to decide which new programs and staff they can pay for themselves.
Kansas City-area students got new window air-conditioning units, literacy coaches and social workers at their schools thanks to tens of millions of dollars in COVID relief funding.
The Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief program first rolled out in 2020, and provided school districts across the country with historic levels of federal funding to keep classrooms safe during the pandemic and address learning loss.
Schools had to commit the last — and largest — installment of federal money by Sept. 30 and spend it by the end of January 2025, if they don’t have an extension. Now, they have to decide which new programs and staff members they want to continue to pay for themselves.
Emily Cross, the Fort Osage School District’s assistant superintendent of education services, said her district invested its federal funds into adding a social worker, to address chronic absenteeism, and learning mentors, to help students with reading.
“My fingers are crossed that we can continue with those roles, because they are making a difference,” Cross said.
Federal COVID funds substantially increased districts’ budgets – the funding equaled a quarter of all K-12 schools’ revenue before the pandemic. Missouri received about $3 billion in COVID-relief funds.
The funding is based on the schools’ level of student need. Districts that serve high-poverty areas received more dollars per student.
Kansas City Public Schools received $65,565,861 from the last federal relief allocation, while across the state, St. Louis Public Schools received $104,818,935.
Many schools invested in staffing
Federal guidelines advised districts to use the funding on one-time purchases like curriculum and building improvements.
Kansas City Public Schools invested $35 million to install air conditioning in all of its classrooms. It also used COVID relief dollars on classroom technology such as whiteboards and furniture upgrades.
Fort Osage is also building a “care closet” that is not within a school building, so families in need could visit with a social worker and get necessities.
But Collin Hitt, executive director of the PRiME Center, which studies education in Missouri, said a number of schools invested in ongoing expenses, such as new staff or higher salaries.
Liberty Public Schools used funds primarily to address learning loss by continuing existing programs, including high dosage tutoring and paying board certified behavior analysts, counselors, nurses, an HR recruiter and substitutes. All of those positions existed before the pandemic and won’t have to be cut.
Hitt said many Missouri school districts were in a state of crisis.
“They needed more teachers. They needed to do more to retain teachers, and perhaps they felt like the best thing to do was to increase salaries or increase staffing,” Hitt said. “How they will continue to afford those things after the expiration of these funds is a big question.”
Hitt said COVID funds may have freed up more money for school districts to spend elsewhere, or even build up their savings. That allowed the majority of Missouri districts to boast larger surpluses at the end of those years, he said.
The Fort Osage School District received about $8 million from the last federal relief allocation.
Cross said the district was concerned about attendance coming out of the pandemic, so that’s one place they funneled their relief dollars. Chronic absenteeism has significantly increased for schools across Missouri over the last several years.The district brought on an additional social worker to work directly with families and find out what support they needed.
“Rather than just working with students in school, we were actually going out to homes and helping parents work with their own kids to help get them back into the swing of things, getting into school and valuing being present at school,” Cross said.
The district also hired behavioral interventionists to help with students who struggle to regulate their emotions. Those coaches support individual students in classrooms, help teachers create plans to better support students and facilitate conversations with families.
Cross said those new roles are working: reading skills and attendance rates are growing in Fort Osage. She said the additional funding enabled schools to give students the time and attention to catch up on learning.
“The smaller the setting for a learner, the better,” Cross said. “With any of our support roles that we have had, it's been able to provide either one-on-one instruction or small group.”
Fort Osage School District also hired teaching and learning coaches to support new teachers. But as COVID-relief dollars waned, Cross said they decreased the number of coaches.
Cross said Fort Osage was able to sustain other support roles this year, and hopes they can continue, although she understands the district will have a lot less money going into the next school year.
Based on the feedback from students and families, Cross said the community also sees the new roles’ value as well.
“I’m advocating for those roles, however, budget matters in those discussions,” Cross said. “We have tangible evidence of the impact of having those extra people supporting kids and families.”