Federal dollars/ESSER (Elementary and Secondary Emergency Relief) have been allocated to our state. $52,097,212 is the ESSER I and II amount designated to Seattle Public Schools. However, the state is deducting $17,002,203 for estimated enrollment decline and $22,832,766 for estimated transportation decline, leaving only $12,262,243.
Enrollment in SPS has declined for various reasons, mostly families holding back their kindergarteners. Other reasons are families homeschooling their kids or choosing to move to private or charter schools. We need to reach out to our legislators and advocate for the state to hold our district harmless for the loss of enrollment and ridership, therefore granting SPS the full amount of federal funds for COVID relief. I know these are hard times and ideally there would be no budget cuts. I also know in the middle of a pandemic; very hard decisions will need to be made.
This call to action is to tell our legislators the impact to our communities if they chose to withhold the funding originally allocated to our district. Below the link where you can find the contact information for your legislators by district.
https://app.leg.wa.gov/