WCPS has big plans for its $80 million in COVID funds

More than $80 million in coronavirus funding over the next few years will allow Wayne County Public Schools to execute millions of dollars in school repairs and upgrades and to make improvements in technical education, including providing a device for every student — and will save the jobs of beginning teachers across the district.

Interim Superintendent Dr. David Lewis said the district had already received millions in COVID-19 funding prior to the announcement of the second phase of the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funding.

ESSER II will make an additional $24,866,344 available to Wayne County. Those funds must be used by September 2023.

A third round of $55,641,212, which will expire September 2024, is expected to be released as well, Lewis said.

And while the rules for these next rounds are looser, Lewis said there are still restrictions on how the funds can be used.

Work in the schools must focus on providing a safer, contaminant-free environment for students and personnel in the wake of COVID-19, addressing learning loss and shoring up digital learning infrastructure and needs.

But Lewis said district leaders have worked up a plan, which was just approved by the Department of Public Instruction, that will allow some of those funds to be used to preserve the jobs of the district’s first- and second-year beginning teachers. Those positions were set to be eliminated because of the district’s budget woes.

Lewis said the extra funding will not eliminate the district’s need to stay within the number of positions allotted by the state — one of the reasons he said caused Wayne County Public Schools to rack up a nearly $5 million deficit.

But it will buy the district time.

“We still have to hit that target. There is still a need for us to live within the staffing allotment provided by the state,” Lewis said. “But we can do it through natural attrition and keep those beginning teachers we need so desperately.”

The reductions necessary to meet the allotment — the funded positions — will now be able to be spaced over three years — and will likely easily be met by naturally occurring retirements and resignations, Lewis said.

The proposal to use some of the funds for job retention — one of the stated purposes for the coronavirus funding — had to be approved by the N.C. Department of Public Instruction. That approval came Thursday.

Lewis and Board of Education chairman Chris West said coming up with a spending plan for the extra federal funding began with understanding just how those funds could be used. The school board met with State Rep. John Bell and some of his staff members to understand the limits, the procedures, and more importantly, the possibilities.

“There were so many rumblings out there about how we could spend the money,” West said. “But there were restrictions.”

New construction, for example, does not meet those funds-use guidelines.

Lewis said the district leadership team members got together to discuss the schools’ needs and sought input from those in the actual buildings — like principals.

Those wants were then compared to the approved uses of the funding.

The idea, West said, was to ensure that decisions made today would not have consequences later.

“We wanted to make sure we were not going to hear five years from now, ‘Wayne County, what is this?’” Lewis said. “We wanted to take the time and do the work to make sure we were following the rules. This is a lot of money.”

Lewis said the money will be appropriated based on a series of specified purposes:

• ACADEMIC RECOVERY — this category deals with addressing learning loss, providing principals and leaders with school-based resources, addressing unique needs of special populations, summer learning and long-term closure activity — ESSER I: $5,791,154; and ESSER II: $12,709,358.

In addition to training and additional learning opportunities for students and staff, the funds will be used to fund the district’s Summer Scholars program, which will target extra help for students whose grades and learning progress suffered under COVID-19 restricted learning or those who are in need of credit recovery to progress to the next grade.

Transportation and daily meals will be provided for the students who meet the measurement criteria to participate in the in-person summer instruction program.

The district will also use money in this category to clan for future long-term closures — just in case there is ever an emergency like COVID-19 again.

• EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY — this category will include hardware replacement and expansion with a focus on getting 1:1 student to devices ratio in grades 1-12; staff device replacement (some of them are more than five years old); and improvements to the district’s data center.

Lewis said the money also will be used for additional online learning support and training for teachers and parents and to increase access to professional development for staff — ESSER II: $3,151,000; and ESSER III $726,500.

• SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL LEARNING SUPPORT — this category will allow the district to provide mental health services and other support structures for students who are dealing with the emotional and social challenges posed by COVID.

Lewis said the district expects to see some adjustment issues when students return full-time this fall.

“The first month of school next year (we fully expect) we will be teaching kids how to go back to school,” he said.

The social and emotional support will not stop in the classroom either.

“This can reach to the family level as well,” Lewis said.

Social workers will be looking for students and families who have needs that can be addressed with school services or other community support.

Lewis added that the district is looking to use the funds conservatively, hoping to be able to spread the services out further. 

That support will include an additional five nurses from Wayne-UNC Health to assist the district’s current nursing staff of 20 as well as a nursing supervisor who will oversee services for the 32 schools, pre-K and district personnel.

The district also will add two social workers; two school psychologists; two school psychologist interns; and contract social workers to provide one-on-one services in high-need schools — ESSER II: $2,119,645; ESSER III: To be announced.

• IMPROVING FACILITIES, MAINTENANCE AND OPERATIONS — this category is what the district will use to deal with facilities improvements and repairs to improve air quality and to reduce environmental hazards and to purchase sanitation and cleaning equipment and supplies. Staff will also receive training on minimizing virus transmission.

This is the category that Lewis and West said will allow the district to address long-time capital needs that have been put off and worsened for years because of a lack of funds.

“These are things that have been differed for a long time that we can afford to do now,” Lewis said.

Everything from windows, air-conditioning, aged boilers to replacement of old carpet, potential lead pipe mitigation and asbestos removal and tile replacement are included on the list — many of the projects chosen from the facilities’ priority needs list compiled earlier this year (and which is created every year).

Roof repairs (with the idea of reducing mold and other contaminants that develop because of leaks) are also on that priority list.

Lewis and West emphasized that while the ESSER II and III funding will have fewer restrictions and can be used for a broader option of repair projects, it cannot fund new construction — like Fremont’s proposed new school or any other replacement project.

Things that do not have to do with air quality or environmental hazards are off the table,” Lewis said.

West said the extra funding — while a “huge shot in the arm” for districts all over the country — does not address the continuing facilities’ needs in the district.

“This is going to take a lot of pressure off government officials for repairs that have been long overdue,” he said. “This is going to help us tremendously on immediate needs.”

But that doesn’t mean the county commission and the school board will be able to stop talking about future capital project needs, Lewis and West said.

“There has got to be a long-term plan for replacement of schools,” Lewis said. “Right now, we are in the repair business.”

The district is also concerned about timing.

Increased prices on building materials — as well as the likelihood that there will be hundreds of schools seeking the same services from a limited number of providers.

“The sooner we can get in line, the better,” West said — ESSER II: $3,000,000; ESSER III: $30,787,850.

• OTHER PLANNED EXPENDITURES — this is where the district will look to maintain current staffing and to offer incentives for teachers and staff as well as to support staff for grant implementation.

It is in this category — under the umbrella of saving jobs — that the district found the funds to avoid letting its beginning teachers go.

Lewis emphasized that there will still be changes made to class sizes and hiring and replacing teachers to make sure the district remains aligned with state allotment numbers as the district continues its efforts to create a balanced budget and to retire its multi-million-dollar deficit.

“There will be larger classes and other measures to make sure we stay within those allotments,” he said — ESSER II: $8,075,000; ESSER III: $3,050,000.

The district also plans to retain a reserve fund to absorb any other programs or unexpected costs that might arise from coronavirus recovery programs.

The ESSER II unbudgeted reserve will be $663,242.53. The ESSER III unbudgeted reserve will be $10,398,097.57.

Lewis and West said they are somewhat concerned about the time limits for the use of the funds and are focused on keeping the district on track to make sure it benefits from all the available funding.

They are hopeful those 2023 and 2024 dates will not be set in stone.

“I think as big an initiative as this was nationwide, the federal government will see that they need to extend it,” West said.