TransACT Blog

What Is ESSER Funding?

ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) funding is the portion of funding from the three COVID-19 relief laws designated to help address educational issues arising from the pandemic. There are three Coronavirus relief bills passed by the U.S. Congress that provided significant funding for K-12 education, totaling over $190 billion.  

Background

In March of 2021, the U.S Congress passed the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act, providing an additional $122 billion in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding. This funding, coupled with the CARES Act (passed March 2020) and CRRSA Act (passed December 2020) ESSER funds brings the total ESSER funding to about $190 billion to help education agencies at the state and local level address the educational impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.  

The question has been asked, “Is Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding enough?” The answer is likely yes. It is a lot of money!  

Background

In March of 2021, the U.S Congress passed the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act, providing an additional $122 billion in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding. This funding, coupled with the CARES Act (Passed March 2020) and CRRSA Act (Passed December 2020) ESSER funds brings the total ESSER funding to $190 billion to help education agencies at the state and local level address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Background

In March of 2021, the U.S Congress passed the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act, providing an additional 122 billion dollars in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding. This funding, coupled with the CARES Act (passed March 2020) and CRRSA Act (passed December 2020) ESSER funds brings the total ESSER funding to about 190 billion dollars, which has been designated to help education agencies at the state and local level address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.  

ESSER Funding Explained

ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) funding is the portion of funding in the three COVID-19 relief laws designated to help address educational issues arising from the pandemic. There are three Coronavirus relief bills passed by the U.S. Congress that provided significant funding for K-12 education.

States, school districts, and schools have significant flexibility in spending federal COVID relief funds announced last spring.   

Pandemic-related learning gaps are still causing issues in K12 education as students try to make up for lost time due to the pandemic and school closures. These gaps are even more significant for Multilingual Learner students.   

Congress has passed three bills that provide $190 billion for K-12 education called Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding, explicitly meant to help education recover from the pandemic.   

In an on-demand webinar, TransACT Parent Notice’s Executive Director for Federal Programs and State Relationships, Dr. David Holbrook, outlines ways school districts can access these federal grants to support dual-language programs.