Funding Opportunities – California Edition

With the recent passage of the $2 trillion American Rescue Plan, California’s K-12 schools are poised to receive $13.5 billion in assistance, far and away the largest of the three COVID-19-related relief acts (CARES Act, CRRSA), which together will inject $26.4 billion into schools across the state. The latest round of funds should be distributed to LEAs within 60 days of receipt by the state, in direct proportion to Title I funding allocations.

ESSER, ESSER II & ARP ESSER

• Brolly assists in the COVID-19 response for special education teachers and service providers, who have seen their service model disrupted by the current pandemic.
• With the app, providers can document and share both virtual and in-person services, service attempts, attendance and student progress.
• The data gathered and presented through Brolly can be vital to determining the scope of learning loss for special education students, one of the hardest-hit groups during the pandemic, and documenting all attempts to serve students in all phases of school closure and reopening.
• The service provision data created and maintained within Brolly can bolster the required detailed district and state accounting and reporting of the use of ESSER, ESSER II and ARP ESSER funds, with a focus on how the State is using funds to measure and address learning loss among students disproportionately affected by the coronavirus and school closures, including children with disabilities. Streamlining progress and service data gives providers more time to deliver targeted, high quality intervention to students with the most need.

Learn more about ESSER, ESSER II and other federal funding

California Funding Notes

• California’s 2020-21 state budget now determines each district’s share of special education funding based on the number of special education students, rather than the total students in the district. This willincrease funding for many districts, withoutreduction in funding to others.
• California provides a simple overview of all COVID-19 Relief Funding on its state DOE website. As of early May, ESSER I, II and GEER I funding is all currently available, as is additional state funding under the Learning Loss Mitigation Fund. ESSER IIfunds, as of early May, had not yet been allocated to LEAs by the state.