Fiscal CliffNotes for Your Stakeholders

For many districts, budget challenges are the result of long-term trends, not the end of ESSER funding. Here are a few tips to help you communicate how ESSER is just one piece of a larger fiscal puzzle.

$190 Billion in Context

Districts have long been experiencing declining enrollment, infrastructure/facilities backlog, larger proportions of high-need students, costs increasing faster than funding, funding inequity, and wage stagnation.

But shorter-term trends, like ESSER, become an easy target for budget crunch blame, even if the math doesn't add up.

Let's contextualize that big headline-saturated number.

• $190 billion divided by ~50 million students =
  $3,850/student
  
  
• $3850 divided by 6 eligible fiscal years =
  $640/student/year

Does an extra ~$640 per student per year still feel transformational? In Allovue's 2022 national survey with the EdWeek Research Center, only 3% of teachers and administrators said pandemic aid was "transformational."

Distributions also varied widely between districts: the median amount was less than the average at just $467 per student per year.

Additionally, one public narrative seems to suggest that all ESSER dollars were used for recurring needs that have to be cut after 2024/2025. However, district CFOs understand the difference between baseline operating funds and one-time supplemental grant funding for emergency purposes.

Here's another way to look at it: If you get a 5% bonus, are you going to run out and buy a new house? Probably not. You understand that a bonus is a bonus and a salary is a salary.

Of course, some districts used ESSER dollars to help plug operational holes, like staving off layoffs. But the fact remains that the ESSER years did not cause most ongoing K-12 budget challenges.

Want to show your stakeholders how ESSER actually played out in your district?

1. Map out the differences between one-time and recurring costs.

• In each fiscal year, what % of your ESSER dollars went to one-time purchases (ed tech, HVAC renovations, plexiglass, PPE, testing sites, etc.) and temporary staff/programs (tutors, summer school coordinators, etc.)?
• What % was used for recurring needs?
• Paint your funding and spending portrait with a finer brush.

2. Contrast ESSER funding with your baseline operating budget (3% of total? 5% of total?).

• Using charts and graphs, visually show what the scaffolding for ESSER allocations looked like year to year. 

3. Communicate what budget challenges are actually being driven by more substantial socioeconomic factors.

• Zoom out 10 years, 20 years. Mine historical data from your district and research national trends to pinpoint the many forces that shape fiscal cliffs.