Webinar Recap: Making the Most of Your ESSER Funds: Halftime Reflections & Revisions

This week, we were thrilled to partner with EducationCounsel and Education Resource Strategies for our webinar presentation: "Making the Most of Your ESSER Funds: Halftime Reflections & Revisions"

As we pass the halfway point of the ESSER timeline, district leaders are tasked with spending down their remaining funds strategically while simultaneously preparing for the approach of a potentially steep cliff once ESSER funds run out. This is the moment for system leaders to understand the progress of their ESSER spend to date and assess performance across indicators for their “big bet” initiatives. Those understandings will then inform any decisions to reallocate remaining funds now and to establish system conditions for making future trade-off decisions on what to sustain, particularly for those systems facing declining enrollment.

Webinar participants heard from two district leaders (Katie Sunseri, Executive Director of State and Federal Programs, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and Scott Thompson, Assistant Superintendent of Business and Support Services, Mesa Public Schools) about how they (and other systems around the country) are engaging in halftime reviews with an immediate focus on identifying key moves to make through the SY23-24 budget cycle to optimize the ESSER opportunity. Our conversation was facilitated by Emily Parfit, Director of Education Resource Strategies (ERS).

Check out the recording here, and accompanying slides here.