ESSER Funds

handprints painted on wall

Jeffco Public Schools' federal stimulus spending for the American Recovery Plan ESSER Fund

What are ESSER Funds?

Federal stimulus relief funds called “Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER)” funds have been allocated by Congress to state education agencies and local school districts to help offset the unexpected expenses incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. Learn more about ESSER funds by visiting the Colorado Department of Education CARES Act web page.

How Is Jeffco Public Schools Using ESSER Funds?

Jeffco Public Schools is strategically investing our ESSER funds to improve student performance outcomes and address impacts felt by the COVID-19 pandemic. We are committed to using these monies on investments that directly impact our culture of instructional excellence and extraordinary student experiences.

ESSER FUND GUIDING PRINCIPLES

  • Improve operational infrastructure
  • Address any gaps in learning that may have occurred for students who missed school during the pandemic
  • Purchase needed softwares, materials, resources, programmatic materials, and other needed supplies
  • Broaden community and stakeholder engagement
  • Transparency 

ESSER III funding support

In December, 2021, Jeffco Public Schools was awarded an additional $68M as part of ESSER III. The US Department of Education and Colorado Department of Education appropriated funding to local school districts based on the Title I formula. Through community and staff feedback and data analysis, Jeffco is implementing the following programs, resources and materials with these additional ESSER funds. The current list includes, but is not limited to, programs, resources and materials that may change with operational and student needs in response to current pandemic conditions. 

ESSER III priority investment areas

 

Our Learners.
Our Future.

Supporting academic and social-emotional growth
 

Our Community. Our Legacy.

Supporting family engagement
 

Our People.
Our Strength.

Supporting staffing and resources
As a result of ongoing determination of district needs, ESSER III investment areas have evolved. The early programs that continue to receive investments are shown in black and new initiatives are in blue. Each school received funds applied to any of the three priority investment areas based on specific needs. School allocations total over $7 million. Charter school allocations total $6.9 million.

Our Learners. Our Future.

Academic and social-emotional initiatives address the impact of lost instructional time through the implementation of evidence-based interventions as well as address the academic, social, emotional, and mental health needs of all students.

Some learning advancement programs in Jeffco include:

  • Jeffco Remote Learning program
  • Jeffco Summer of Early Learning program
  • Secondary summer enrichment programs
  • Orton Gillingham reading intervention training and implementation
  • Math curriculum
  • Mental health - extra school supports
  • Social emotional learning screener
  • Data Dashboard to track academic and social emotional learning metrics
  • High Dosage Tutoring

Our Community. Our Legacy.

Family engagement and enrollment initiatives are used to implement prevention and mitigation strategies that are consistent with the most recent CDC guidance on continuous and safe school operation and address increased student enrollment and achievement through known family engagement strategies and tactics.

In Jeffco this includes:

  • Indoor air quality improvements
  • Expanding the 1:1 TechForEd device program and software
  • Telehealth services
  • Student and family survey resources
  • Family partnership and student outreach for student at-risk of dropout
  • School changes to respond to declining enrollment and to improve programming

Our People. Our Strength.

Staffing initiatives include talent recruitment initiatives, strategic resource allocation, and program evaluation. 

In Jeffco this includes:

  • Resources for moving paraprofessionals into teaching roles
  • Increased base pay for substitutes and full time substitutes at high needs schools
  • Campus Safety Supervisors to enhance safety at middle schools
  • Temporary staff to address added workload for purchasing, grant accounting and evaluation
  • Communications tasks related to ESSER

Proposed and Reconsidered Initiatives

These initiatives have been reconsidered for ESSER funding due to timing, hiring challenges, and/or other emerging needs identified by our stakeholders. 

  • Outreach to exiting families 
  • Indoor air quality improvements
  • Increasing Human Resources recruiters
  • Variable-based planning and budgeting 
  • Reviewing Student Based Budgeting (SBB) for equity and impact 
 

Featured INITIATIVES

Hazel Health Physical and Mental Telehealth Services

Overview

The District has selected Hazel Health, Inc. as the provider of telehealth services for Jeffco students to provide evidence-based, culturally responsive, on-demand integrated healthcare services for all students, including those who have been identified as needing additional behavioral health services due to being at an increased risk for chronic stress, trauma, anxiety, and depression as it relates to the Coronavirus pandemic.

Hazel Health Physical & Mental Telehealth Services provides unlimited, on-demand mental and physical health services (including assessment and treatment) by licensed providers to all Jeffco students with parental/guardian consent regardless of insurance or language spoken.

Services

  •  Unlimited, on-demand mental and physical health services (including assessment and treatment)Access to on demand licensed mental health counselors for delivery of the comprehensive HEART Protocol for students from home via phone and/or computer via Hazel Health’s In-School Telehealth technology
  •  Follow-up and case management support for all students, including appointment scheduling for in-person services, assistance navigating the healthcare system/Medicaid, coordination for ongoing counseling or psychiatric supports, and coordination with existing schools supports.

Eligibility

All Jeffco students (PreK–12th grade) are eligible to use Hazel Health with parental/guardian consent 

Services are available at no cost

The service is fully funded by ESSER with no cost to the end user. However, any prescriptions or external visits outside of school are not part of the Hazel program and would need to be covered by the family or insurance.

Additional information

  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Hazel Health Presentation to the Board of Education
  • Services are accessed via multiple entry-points into care, including (but not limited to):
    • On-demand physical health visits initiated by designated school-based staff (at school, if parental/caregiver consent is given) or parents (at home)
    • Mental health referrals from school staff, most often the school counselors, psychologists and/or social workers
    • Mental health referrals from Hazel Health medical providers who identify concerns during urgent care visits
    • Request for mental health services from parents/caregivers
    • Self-consent by students of the legal age of consent, commensurate with state law
  • Hazel is not a replacement for the emergency room. If a child needs immediate medical attention PLEASE CALL 911. Hazel is not designed to replace the 9-1-1 system

High Dosage Tutoring

More information coming soon!
 

Program Evaluation for Key Investments

Ongoing program evaluation is critical to ensure the success of ESSER funded projects.  A comprehensive process and outcome evaluation will be conducted for our curricular investments including early literacy , secondary math, contextual learning, summer school, and high dosage tutoring.

In addition, Jeffco Public Schools will conduct a detailed analysis of data related to telehealth and Social Emotional Learning assessments. Program evaluation will be conducted by external evaluators in partnership with internal research staff support.  All final reports will be posted on our Research & Evaluation Publications web page.  

 

Current Proposed Spending by Initiative

Proposed Spending by Initiative Table

Initiative

Proposed Spending 

Academic & Social Emotional Growth 
School Allocations
  $7,452,780
High Dosage Tutoring - Literacy & Math*  $11,087,645
Math Contextual Learning - Geometry In Construction and AMPED on Algebra*  $4,608,503
Jeffco Remote Learning Program*  $5,198,023
Jeffco Summer of Early Learning*   $1,562,503
Secondary Summer Enrichment Program*  $1,882,808
Orton Gillingham Reading Intervention Training for Paraprofessionals
  $538,692
Math Curriculum*
  $3,765,615
Mental Health - extra school supports  $2,301,209
Social Emotional Learning Screener  $235,351
Data Dashboard  $3,451,814

Student & Family Engagement/Enrollment
Expanded Family Engagement Programs  $915,254
Expanded 1:1 TechForEd Devices/software Program*  $5,230,021
Hazel Health Physical & Mental Telehealth Services  $1,464,406
Student and Family Survey Resources  $271,961
Family Partnership and Student Outreach for students at-risk of dropout  $1,046,004
School changes to respond to declining enrollment and to improve programming
  $261,501

Staffing Resources
Communications tasks related to ESSER  $80,194
Resources for moving Paraprofessionals into Teaching Roles  $523,002
Increased base pay for Substitutes and full time Substitutes at high needs schools  $8,062,600
Campus Safety Supervisors to enhance safety at middle schools  $318,038 
Temporary/contracted staff to address added workload for Purchasing, Grant Accounting and Evaluation  $732,203

Charters

Charters Passthrough*

($2,702,412 is for lost learning)

  $7,277,027
Total   $68,267,154 

 

* Initiatives that address learning loss - totaling $33,335,118

Future details regarding spending of ESSER III will be published soon. Data not displayed in real time. Data is updated quarterly. Updated 12.20.22

Note: For each round of requested funds, Jeffco Public Schools is allocating 10% of total monies to charter schools because about 10% of enrolled students attend a Jeffco charter school. The numbers below reflect the total amounts received and requested with a 10% allowance and pass-through set aside for charter schools.
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