12 Allowable Uses for ESSER Funding

Supporting School Districts, Students, and Families in Need with Technology

The Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act was signed into law on March 27, 2020. Specifically, the Educational Stabilization Fund portion of the CARES Act supports K-12 schools, also known as the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER) Fund. The funding is meant to help school districts to secure resources to respond to the COVID-19 emergency in K-12 schools.

The funding allows for specific uses to support students and families. Below is a list of those uses, along with information about how software solutions like Scribbles can help. More information about the funding and how it can be used can be found here.

12 Allowable Uses

1. Any activity authorized by the ESEA of 1965, including the Native Hawaiian Education Act and the Alaska Native Educational Equity, Support, and Assistance Act, the individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the Adult Education, and Family Literacy Act, the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006, or subtitle B of title VII of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act.
   
   
   
2. Coordination of preparedness and response efforts of local educational agencies with state, local, Tribal, and territorial public health departments, and other relevant agencies, to improve coordinated responses among such entities to prevent, prepare for, and respond to Coronavirus.
   
   Communication: School districts need to send consistent and understandable communication to families. Oftentimes documents need to be updated to keep up with the changing state of COVID-19. Ever-changing documents include transportation forms, health forms, new health protocols, and daily signatures required by families regarding student symptoms. Tools like ScribForms (available through select Scribbles Software tools) can help families receive and fill out these forms at any place and at any time.
   
   
   
3. Providing principals and other school leaders with the resources necessary to address the needs of their individual schools.
   
   
   
4. Activities to address the unique needs of low-income children or students, children with disabilities, English language learners, racial and ethnic minorities, students experiencing homelessness, and foster care youth, including how outreach and service delivery will meet the needs of each population.
   
   Electronic Forms: Equity and access is the mission of Scribbles Software because we know that education is a right and not a privilege. We can offer forms online so families can complete them when it is convenient for them. We can also ensure that your forms be completed in multiple languages.
   
   
   
5. Developing and implementing procedures and systems to improve the preparedness and response efforts of local educational agencies (LEAs).
   
   
   
6. Training and professional development for staff of the LEA on sanitation and minimizing the spread of infectious diseases.
   
   
   
7. Purchasing supplies to sanitize and clean the facilities of a local educational agency, including buildings operated by such agency.
   
   
   
8. Planning for and coordinating during long-term closures, including how to provide meals to eligible students, how to provide technology for online learning to all students, how to provide guidance for carrying out requirements under IDEA, and how to ensure other educational services can continue to be provided consistent with all Federal, State, and local requirements.
   
   Family Dashboard: Our family dashboard is a unique and innovative approach to connecting with your families. You can communicate messages, protocols, and updates to families. Families can complete the required documents (like device distribution forms), and those answers can be reported to your leadership in real time. The Family Dashboard can also help families elect the type of communication they receive. They can stay informed through text, calls, emails, or all of these.
   
   
   
9. Purchasing educational technology (including hardware, software, and connectivity) for students who are served by the LEA that aids in regular and substantive educational interaction between students and their classroom instructors, including many low-income students and students with disabilities, which may include assistive technology or adaptive equipment.
   
   Student Lifecycle: Our student lifecycle solutions are built to be a partner from enrollment to post-graduation. We are also uniquely structured to help school districts at a time when no/low touch policies have been implemented while still needing to conduct meaningful family communication and engagement.
   
   
   
10. Providing mental health services and support.
    
    
    
11. Planning and implementing activities related to summer learning and supplemental afterschool programs, including providing classroom instruction or online learning during the summer months and addressing the needs of low-income students, students with disabilities, English language learners, migrant students, students experiencing homelessness, and children in foster care.
    
    
    
12. Other activities that are necessary to maintain the operation of and continuity of services in LEAs and continue to employ existing staff of the LEA.

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