The state of Nevada has received approximately $1.7 billion in federal relief funds dedicated to improving student achievement and teacher effectiveness since the COVID-19 pandemic.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jhone Ebert briefed the State Board of Education on Jan. 8 on the investment rounds that launched in March 2020 to prevent educational regression from the pandemic’s impacts. Funds distributed to school districts were intended to spur academic recovery, teacher effectiveness and classroom supports schools needed after closures and long-term operational changes.
As of the end of 2024, approximately $18.1 million of all ESSER funds remained unspent, according to the NDE’s accountability tracker, www.nevadaesser.org.
Congress passed a $2.2 trillion economic stimulus bill called the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES) in March 2020. Resources benefited individuals, families and businesses in the form of direct payments, expanded unemployment benefits and small business loans.
The Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRSSA) followed in December 2020, which would serve as a subset of the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund.
States also were allocated financial aid through a second set of funds, Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) I, ESSER II and American Rescue Plan (ARP) ESSER dollars.
Nevada’s share of ESSER I totaled $117 million of which 90% of the money went to local education agencies for distance education, cleaning supplies and for interventions in learning loss. The funding helped but “we started to see a shift across what school districts were providing or ordering for their students at that moment in time,” Ebert said.
Ebert said ESSER I funds had to be obligated by September 2021, and the state spent 98.7% on professional development, instructional materials, student learning devices and subgrants to schools.
In a second round of funding from the CRSSA, the Silver State then received $477 million from ESSER II and GEER that provided similar funding that then focused more on disadvantaged students, Ebert said. Money had to be spent down by September 2023, and projects to benefit included nonprofit DonorsChoose to assist classrooms in need, the formation of the NDE’s Portrait of a Graduate and mental health programs for students.
With ARP ESSER money, the largest relief in funding with $122 billion, school safety, learning loss and academic and mental health supports continued, Ebert said. Nevada’s share was approximately $1,072,783,000 to be obligated by September 2024. The liquidation progress is in progress through this month, and the NDE has spent about 98.8% on curriculum development, system development for children from birth to third grade, summer enrichment programs and micro-credentialing, Ebert said.
Ebert said the state has been “intentional” and emphasized there are no new projects to be accepted as the new year begins.