OKLAHOMA CITY — Facing the prospect of a second potentially interrupted school year, 150 Oklahoma school districts and charter schools are getting additional funds to help address the educational impacts of COVID-19.
On Wednesday, the state Department of Education and the governor’s office announced the awarding of $16 million in federal grants to school districts across Oklahoma for the 2020-
2021 school year for emergency needs directly connect- ed to the ongoing pandemic.
The funding for the competitive grants consisted of $8 million from the Oklahoma State Department of Education set-aside in the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund and $8 million from the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund through the U.S. Department of Education.
Both ESSER and GEER are components of the federal Coronavirus, Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. Under the CARES Act, the OSDE funds must meet “emergency needs” of districts in response to COVID-19, while GEER dollars expended to schools must be to those “most significantly impacted by coronavirus.”
As part of the application process, districts had to identify at least one of five priority areas students were impacted that they would use grant funds to address. Those areas include expanding internet connectivity for students, mental health supports for students, reading instruction training for elementary school teachers, distance learning software platforms and compensatory services for at risk students.
“Our districts indicated an urgent need for funds dedicated to connectivity and digital learning materials, and for good reason,” State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister said. “The pandemic has created a clarion call throughout the state and nation to bridge the digital divide.
“It is imperative that districts be equipped to take swift and decisive action to ensure all kids are learning amid a global pandemic, including in virtual or blended environments that best meet local context and the needs of families.”
Applications were reviewed and awarded within five categories based on student enrollment. Individual awards to districts and charter schools ranged from $13,596 to $500,000.
One of the area districts receiving grant funds is Hydro-Eakly Public Schools, which has 468 students across northern Caddo and southern Blaine counties. It received $50,000, which it will use to help purchase curriculum to address students’ social-emotional learning needs, as well as additional electronic devices to check out should the district have to re-implement distance learning during the upcoming school year.
Hydro-Eakly Superintendent Jeremy Bussey said the extra funds will allow the district to make sure every student has their own electronic device to complete assignments when classes start in August.
His district, like others across the state, surveyed parents in the spring when in-person classes were canceled due to COVID to determine distance learning access. However, neither he nor many of Hydro-Eakly’s parents considered the complications that come with having multiple siblings try- ing to get schoolwork done while sharing a single computer or tablet.
“We are very appreciative of these grant funds,” Bussey said. “We were trying to find in our normal budget how we’d make this transition...and this is going to be very helpful. This will help us meet these new needs that we never thought of before.”
Other southwestern Oklahoma school districts receiving grant funds include Temple, $35,620; Ryan, $44,504; Cordell, $100,000; Weatherford, $199,934; Mangum, $33,882; Comanche, $100,000; Bray-Doyle, $50,000; Anadarko, $124,519; Bishop, $100,000; and Central High, $50,000.