School districts work on plans for CARES Act funding

As part of the state’s efforts to combat COVID-19 and its financial impact, school budgets faced shortcomings. While aid is coming, school districts now need to figure out what to prioritize with it.

While Missouri Gov. Mike Parson has withheld two months of Title I funding, the state received $208.4 million from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act for K-12 education.

The state will keep 10% for statewide policies, but the other 90% will go to school districts to address local needs.

It based on how much school districts receive in the 2018-19 Title I allotments, which come from data, such as free and reduced lunch and student enrollment.

While the funding is based on Title I data, it does not have the same restrictions. The goal of these funds is for districts to plan for potential closures going forward and plans for returning to normal operations.

Districts cannot use this funding for bonuses/merits unless COVID related, salaries/benefits for non-district employees, union expenditures and anything religious.

It works through a reimbursement program. The state allots a certain amount to school districts after they apply. School districts can then request reimbursement for expenses up to that amount.

The funds are available until September 2022.

Neelyville R-IV

Neelyville R-IV Superintendent Debra Parish said the district received $285,281 in CARES Act funding.

She said the plan is to spend about $53,000 of that on Chromebooks to get Neelyville High School to one-to-one technology. The goal is every high school student will have access to a Chromebook.

“Then, all of our mobile-labs in high school can be sent down to elementary,” Parish said. “Should we have an extended time out again, if a student — at the high school level, (grade) 7-12 — didn’t have a device at home, then we could check one out to them.”

The way she sees that program working is students would pay a deposit to use the device, and as long as it’s returned in good shape, the district would return the deposit.

Along the same line of technology, Parish discussed looking into ways to enhance connectivity and online programs to supplement in-person classes.

“We’re hoping our technology will be better available to students, and we can more utilize that if we have an extended time out again,” Parish said.

The district has looked into updating its phone system for several years and a change to LED lights, she said, which they could use these funds for.

If there is another extended break, Parish said, the district would want to do work for grades whereas this time anything made available was for enrichment.

Teachers would need to have phone calls and Zoom or Google Hangout meetings with the students. The district’s phone system and connectivity could affect how those go, she explained.

For cleaning, Parish said the administration is looking into mist-sanitizers staff would use in the buses. She said they’d like to buy three of them in a backpack style.

These would spray down all the buses after students get off in the morning and after they’re taken home in the afternoon. Staff also could use them in classrooms.

The sprays have no odor, Parish said, and take 10 minutes to set. It leaves the surface wet, but that would have time to dry before students would be in those areas.

Parish also discussed looking into portable hand washing stations and buying automatic hand sanitizers, which can be moved where the district needs one.

For instance, stations could be set up at the entrances to sporting events.

The district also plans to buy touchless thermometers for school nurses, masks and gloves.

Another area Neelyville could use funds for is to hire additional custodians to help with the extra cleaning and additional teachers for third grade and kindergarten.

“We will social distance (the students) as we can,” Parish said. “Our biggest concern is that we have 56 third graders and so that would be 28 in each classroom. If we have a bigger enrollment, we may want to look at adding another third-grade class … We’re going to wait and see.”

For kindergarten, Parish said, the district is at a good number to only have two classes, but if that number goes up, they may need to add a class.

Parish said she wants to keep some of the funding in reserve if more challenges come up they need to address.

Twin Rivers R-X

Interim Superintendent Mike Stevenson said the Twin Rivers R-X district requested funding through the CARES act.

He said the funding cuts “hit us hard.”

The district came out in a deficit at the end of the 2018-19 school year and was in discussion of ways to cut costs prior to the pandemic.

Stevenson said he doesn’t know the exact amount the district would receive through the act, but he expects it to be a little over $300,000.

It could be as high as $380,000 or as low as $300,000, he said.

Since Stevenson temporarily is filling in and incoming Superintendent Dr. Ben Johnson is scheduled to officially start in July, decisions about what to do with funding haven’t been made.

Stevenson said his recommendation to Johnson is to not spend a significant amount of it right away, but rather to sit on it and see what’s to come in the next school year.

Some of it, he said, will likely be used early on for cleaning supplies before students return to classes.

Poplar Bluff R-I

The budget cuts affected Poplar Bluff R-I as well.

Dr. Scott Dill, superintendent, said he’s thankful “we have strong balances.”

“No one, at least no one in my camp, blames the government for what happened. The revenue simply is not there,” Dill said. “He made the only choice he could, and we recognize that K-12 education is the primary expenditure in the state budget.

“We recognize it had to be done, but it creates an issue for districts all over the state.”

He has not requested funding yet through the CARES Act, but plans to.

Dill said he and other administration have taken part in online seminars and informational meetings about the funding to get as much information as possible before deciding.

He also wants to see how the state and local budget works out.

“Back when the CARES Act was announced, we were excited because we have been incurring expenses specifically related to COVID,” Dill said. “We knew that we were going to continue to do so.

“As we got further into the crisis, and we realized the full shutdown of the school system — of the local, state and federal economy —we started to realize that being a tax-driven entity, this was going to have an impact.”

Items, such as upgraded technology and more devices would be great, Dill said, but the district is facing a “rather large hole in our budget.”

Administration is exploring options with the potential funding to determine the best and highest leverage use for it that funding.

Based on the information he’s received, Dill said, he expects an allotment between $1.5 and $1.7 million.

“At the moment… patching a rather sizable hole in our school district’s budget seems like a logical application for those funds,” he said.

“The goal is to preserve the integrity of the educational environment and ensure that — as we head into one of the most difficult academic years that anybody has ever experienced in our lifetime and in spite of the looming financial obstacles — we continue to meet the needs of the students,” Dill said.