Deadline looming for Deer Valley Unified to obligate $10M in ESSER funds

By Steve Stockmar
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The deadline to obligate spending for the remaining available ESSER III money is coming up for Arizona schools, including in Deer Valley Unified School District.

The original Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act was enacted in March of 2020 and included the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund. The federal program came in response to the need for emergency assistance for residents and businesses affected by the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.

The Arizona Department of Education administers the money to local schools. Arizona is projected to receive $4 billion in COVID grants through the ESSER program, which included the first two rounds of ESSER funding.

The $2.6 billion K-12 ESSER III fund, the third and last, will have money available through Monday, Sept. 30. School districts that fail to obligate their ESSER III funds by that date will lose them entirely.

A Deer Valley Unified spokesperson on Friday confirmed that DVUSD has been awarded just over $34 million in ESSER III money, of which the district has spent close to $24 million. Deer Valley Unified has until Sept. 30 to obligate spending the $10.2 million in money still available.

“Money needs to be drawn down but is encumbered,” a district spokesperson shared in an email regarding the district’s plans for the final $10.2 million. “Last retention stipend, indirect cost, M&O Backfill.”

In addition to allowing districts to spend the money in the same ways as ESSER I and II funding, the Arizona Department of Education in its May 2021 ESSER III report noted “flexible” ways that the grant’s discretionary funds can be used – and not used.

Districts can use the money to buy educational technology (including hardware, software, and connectivity); to provide mental health services and supports; to plan and implement activities related to summer learning and after school programs; and for school facilities repair and improvement, among a myriad of other options.

ESSER III funding cannot be used for bonuses, merit pay, or similar expenditures, unless related to disruptions or closures resulting from COVID-19. The funding also cannot be used for subsidizing or offsetting executive salaries and benefits of individuals who are not employees of the district, or for expenditures related to state or local teacher or faculty unions or associations.

ESSER III funds are subject to the Education Department General Administrative Regulations and the federal government’s Uniform Grant Guidance, including the requirement that spending be necessary and reasonable, the report further notes.

ESSER I and ESSER II funding, like this month’s deadline for ESSER III, each ended on the last day of September in 2022 and 2023, respectively.

(Source: Arizona Department of Education)

Fitch Ratings in its December 2023 report on Deer Valley Unified noted that “The district continues to spend ESSER III/ARPA federal stimulus grant funds on areas such as learning loss/intervention programs and improved online curriculum/instructional practices. The fiscal 2024 budget includes $33.5 million that will be spent on one-time expenditures.”

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan research and policy institute, notes that spending ESSER III money comes with “broad flexibility.”

“While the federal government advised against using the funds to take on large construction projects or to address other recurring expenses such as hiring new permanent staff, schools were not explicitly barred from doing so,” the Center wrote in February of this year.

Steve Stockmar
News Editor | Sun Life Magazine & Arts & Entertainment YourValley.net

sstockmar@iniusa.org

Meet Steve
Steve Stockmar joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2017, and has been an Arizona journalist for almost 30 years. He serves as editor of Sun Life Magazine and contributes to West Valley communities where he focuses mostly on arts & culture, education, and profiles of neighbors making a difference.

Community: Every season Steve serves as a “buddy” with the Miracle League of Arizona in Scottsdale, has volunteered his time with Family Promise in Glendale, and previously served on the Ghostlight Theatre board in Sun City West.

Education: Graduated from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff with a Journalism major and English minor.

Random Fact: Steve once won a 50-player live Texas Hold ’Em poker tournament.

Hobbies: Anguishing over his beloved Chicago Cubs and Bears; listening to Beatles and Grateful Dead music.