How will Fresno Unified spend the more than $700 million COVID funds? Here’s a look
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Hello education readers,
Summer is in full swing, but it’s only a matter of weeks before the bell rings for classes to begin again. After a challenging year of distance learning, most students will return to campuses this fall.
The state is projected to set aside $93.7 billion in education funds for the 2021-2022 fiscal year.
Fresno Unified will use some of the more than $700 million it received to add more social and emotional supports when students return in the fall. New hires will include more psychologists, clinical social workers, and additional academic counselors, plus a counselor in the city’s domestic violence shelter.
The money will also help expand internet access for areas with limited WiFi, add more transitional kindergarten programs and expand funding for older students wishing to attend community college.
About 88% of FUSD’s student population are considered low-income students, according to Education Data Partnership. According to the budget approved, districts like FUSD with a higher concentration of low-income students will receive $1 billion annually to hire more teachers, counselors, and support staff, and, by 2025, $5 billion to allow every transitional kindergarten student to sixth-grader to be offered summer school and after-school programs.
Funding will be added permanently to the Local Control Funding Formula, making the first substantive change to the formula since its adoption in 2013.
What are your thoughts? Will you be participating in the LCAP meetings this year? Have you been able to attend meetings in the past? Let us know what you think FUSD should spend the money on at edlab@fresnobee.com.
Ed Lab reporting
Our higher education reporter Ashleigh Panoo recently covered how Fresno schools will incorporate mask mandates.
In other Fresno-area education news, a recent investigation found Fresno Unified did not discriminate against the families of English-language learning students. A complaint filed by the ACLU last year accused the district of discrimination and said district leaders needed to do more to communicate effectively with the families of EL students.
EL students are among the most vulnerable populations of “learning lag” due to distance learning.
You can read Isabel Sophia Dieppa’s report here.
Finally, we round off the week with some good news. FUSD will receive a donation of over 1,000 LGBTQ-inclusive books from the non-profit group Gender Nation.
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This story was originally published July 19, 2021 at 10:18 AM.