ESSER funds expire in September—what that means for school districts

Welcome to the Monday, April 22, Brew.

By: Briana Ryan

Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:

Here’s what to know about expiring COVID-19 education relief
Five candidates are running in the Democratic primary for New Jersey’s 3rd Congressional District
Update on 2024 ballot measure certifications

Here’s what to know about expiring COVID-19 education relief

The last round of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund grants expires this September, and some K-12 public school districts are looking at how to spend the last of the money and adjust their future budgets.

Here’s the backstory on ESSER funds. Throughout Spring 2020, all 50 states shuttered K-12 public schools to in-person learning. In most states, students would not return to classrooms for the remainder of the academic year.

In response to widespread school closures, Congress allocated roughly $190 billion to schools between March 2020 and March 2021 through three rounds of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund grants:

Congress also allocated about 10% of ESSER funding—or about $19 billion—to state education agencies. Congress mostly followed Title I funding formulas in allocating ESSER grants, meaning districts with more low-income families generally received more funding. Title I is part of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.

States have until September to commit money they received in the third round of ESSER funding. Each tranche of ESSER funding came with its own deadline. The deadlines for the first two rounds have already passed. The deadline for districts to commit the third tranche of ESSER funds to projects is Sept. 30, and funds must be spent by the end of January 2025 (states can request an extension).

States and districts have spent about 77% of ESSER funds. According to the U.S. Department of Education, states and districts have spent an average of 63% of the third round of ESSER funds. FutureEd, a nonpartisan education think tank based out of Georgetown University, calculated that states and districts have spent about $145.3 billion—or 77%—of the funding allocated across all three ESSER allocations.

Districts had wide latitude to spend the money. According to the U.S. Department of Education, “These Federal emergency resources are available for a wide range of activities to address diverse needs arising from or exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, or to emerge stronger post-pandemic, including responding to students’ social, emotional, mental health, and academic needs and continuing to provide educational services as States, LEAs, and schools respond to and recover from the pandemic.”

Districts are grappling with the expiration of ESSER funds. With the deadline to spend ESSER funds approaching and declining public school enrollment, districts are grappling with the loss of billions of dollars in federal aid. To put the loss in perspective, in 2019, the last year before Congress began allocating ESSER grants, the federal government spent a total of $57.9 billion on K-12 public schools—less than a third of what Congress allocated to schools through ESSER.

A 2023 Education Next analysis of 22 states found that districts had spent about half of the money on labor costs, which could include new hires and raises for existing personnel. A December 2023 Education Week survey of 250 district leaders found that a quarter of respondents said they didn’t anticipate finding alternative funding to cover ongoing expenses made with ESSER grants.

Some districts have announced staff and teacher layoffs due to losing ESSER funds. Districts may also cut expenses in other ways, including ending after-school programs, tutoring services, and more.

Ballotpedia provides a weekly newsletter on education policy and school board politics called Hall Pass. In last week’s edition, we asked readers to tell us about their districts’ experience with ESSER grants. If you have thoughts on that question, we invite you to respond. We may share your response with fellow subscribers in an upcoming edition.

Subscribe to Hall Pass below for weekly updates on education policy and school board elections.

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Five candidates are running in the Democratic primary for New Jersey’s 3rd Congressional District

Throughout the year, we’ll bring you coverage of the most compelling elections — the battlegrounds we expect to have a meaningful effect on the balance of power in governments or to be particularly competitive.

Today, we’re looking at the June 4 Democratic primary for New Jersey’s 3rd Congressional District. Five candidates are running, and two lead in media attention and polls: Herbert Conaway Jr. (D) and Carol Murphy (D). Incumbent Andrew Kim (D) is running for the U.S. Senate. This is the first election year since 2014 that the 3rd Congressional District is open.

The race is taking place against the backdrop of recent court rulings affecting the primary ballot. On March 29, U.S. District Judge Zahid Quraishi issued a preliminary injunction blocking the county line ballot design used in 19 of the state’s 21 counties. On April 17, the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Quaraishi’s injunction.

According to Politico: ”The county line is New Jersey’s unique primary ballot design where party-backed candidates are placed in a single column or row from the highest office to the lowest. Candidates not endorsed by county parties are often placed less prominently on primary ballots.”

The following images were included in a ruling from the Third Circuit Court of Appeals upholding Quraishi’s ruling. The first image is of a ballot using the county-line design, and the second is a ballot using an office-block design.

Before Quraishi issued the injunction, all three counties in the district endorsed Conaway. Rider University’s Micah Rasmussen said: “All of Herb Conaway’s advantages that he built up in winning those three lines — which were thought to be a prohibitive advantage for him — are all gone, and it is a great reset in that race now.”

Here’s a bit about the candidates:

Conaway is a member of the New Jersey General Assembly and a medical doctor. Conaway said he has a “track record of getting things done in the legislature,” and if elected to Congress, he would “take that fight to Washington, to protect our democracy, expand reproductive rights, make healthcare more affordable, and tackle climate change.” VoteVets endorsed Conaway.
Murphy is a member of the General Assembly and previously worked as a community relations manager. Murphy said, “I’ll bring a fresh perspective as the first woman from South Jersey ever to serve in the United States House of Representatives.” EMILYs List endorsed Murphy.

As of April 19, The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter and Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales rated the general election Solid Democratic. Larry J. Sabato’s Crystal Ball rated the general election Likely Democratic.

Also running in the primary are Joseph Cohn (D), Brian Schkeeper (D), and Sarah Schoengood (D).

To view previous editions of The Brew featuring battleground elections, click here.

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Update on 2024 ballot measure certifications

This year, 89 statewide ballot measures have been certified for the ballot in 33 states—one more than the average of 88 certified at this point in even-numbered years between 2012 and 2022. An average of 157 measures were certified in even-numbered years from 2012 to 2022.

Here’s an update on the ballot measure activity during the past two weeks.

In the past two weeks, officials in Hawaii and Maine certified two measures:

Voters in Hawaii join those in California in deciding on a constitutional amendment related to same-sex marriage in November 2024. Both states follow Nevada, which decided on a constitutional amendment in 2020.

Signatures have been submitted and are pending verification for three initiatives in California and one in Colorado. That includes:

In Massachusetts, enough signatures were verified for seven indirect ballot initiatives for them to appear before the Legislatures:

In Massachusetts, initiated state statutes are indirect, meaning the Legislature has the option to pass the initiative outright. Legislators have a certain number of days, depending on the state, to adopt the initiative into law. In Massachusetts, petitioners collect a second round of signatures to place the initiative on the ballot.

What’s next?

The next signature deadline is May 1 in Idaho, where two ballot initiatives have been proposed—one to legalize medical marijuana, and another to create a top-four ranked-choice voting (RCV) system.

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