Bakersfield school districts vary in spending federal dollars intended for learning loss

Jun. 17—Data shows Kern County's school districts vary widely in their use of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds — some districts have used a majority of their funds and some have barely spent 1%.

By fall of next year, each school district must exhaust the supply of its ESSER money pool and earmark 20% of the funds to address students' learning loss. The other 80% of expenditures are for the districts' discretion.

Districts in metro Bakersfield also vary significantly in the amount paid out to ensuring students make up for missed education during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dollars to offset learning loss were spent on a wide variety of programs, such as independent study programs and targeted tutoring, districts told The Californian.

The Bakersfield City School District, Kern High School District and the Panama-Buena Vista Union School District each received the most total dollars in all of Kern County from the federal government: $140,368,150; $106,576,501 and $35,141,153, respectively.

BCSD is the only Bakersfield-based school district that has spent none of its allocation on learning loss, according to EdSource. It's also only expended about 8% — or $11.2 million — of the $140.4 million total it got, the data added. Requests for comment were not returned by the district.

The Kern County Superintendent of Schools Office received roughly $11 million from the federal government.

EdSource's data notes it expended $0 on learning loss, but a KCSOS spokesman wrote this analysis doesn't provide a complete or accurate picture. The final spending for the 2022 to 2023 fiscal year isn't included in this analysis — that estimate shows KCSOS spent $7 million, Rob Meszaros, KCSOS spokesman, said by email.

"The bottom line is we will spend all of our allotted funding on time and with the majority directly supporting learning loss initiatives," he wrote.

Much of the dollars expended in the 2021 to 2022 fiscal year came from other pools of federal and state funds given because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Meszaros added. KCSOS used $33 million of COVID-19 funds and $25 million of those dollars were reported as used to address learning loss, he added.

The Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds went to the Kern Integrated Data System, curriculum and instruction development and supporting alternative education, Meszaros wrote.

KHSD, which has spent about $19.9 million of the $21.3 million minimum it needs to devote to learning loss, funneled the dollars to Kern Learn, which is an independent study program for high school students, and another similar program for 5th graders, according to KHSD spokeswoman Erin Briscoe-Clarke.

"This allows these students an opportunity to fulfill their graduation requirements," Briscoe-Clarke wrote in an email Friday.

Funds also went toward creating additional "teaching sections" that allowed for reduced class sizes, more electives and credit recovery for students who faced "challenges" that impacted their academic progress, Briscoe-Clarke added.

The remaining dollars will help to improve facilities and continue the learning loss programs, she wrote. EdSource's data shows KHSD has spent about 25 percent of its allocation.

PBVUSD used about 92 percent of its $35.1 million pool. It's expended about $4.1 million out of at least roughly $7 million the district must set aside to help with learning loss, according to EdSource data.

Students received tutoring during lunchtime, after school and summer school. PBVUSD Superintendent Katie Russell said during a phone interview that an increased number of students attended summer school, and the district hired more teachers during the vacation months in hopes of reducing classroom size.

Russell noted these measures couldn't have been in place without the extra money.

"We were pretty aggressive at the beginning because there was a lot of learning loss and we wanted to make sure we were addressing it as soon as possible as the funding came in," she added.

Katie Gonzalez, the district's director of fiscal services, noted that their discretionary funds — noted as general dollars — still went to address learning loss and student support.

"The intentionality of the district is broadly focused on learning loss regardless of the funding source," Gonzalez added.

Fruitvale School District received about $3.4 million in funding and has spent $678,763 toward addressing education gaps. That's exactly the 20 percent that is required, according to EdSource's data.

Its superintendent, Leslie Garrison, said by email the district focused on reading proficiency with the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds, as well as other ways. A program assesses K-8 students at the beginning of school year to determine their reading levels and instruction was given based on those needs, she wrote.

"As you may imagine, a systems implementation of this magnitude requires extensive professional development provided by experts, valuable planning time, specialized materials, and additional qualified staff," Garrison said.

Here are other Bakersfield-based school districts' data, based on an analysis by EdSource:

* Greenfield Union School District got $27.6 million and has spent about $1 million on learning loss. The funds marked as general spending total to about $18.3 million.

* Standard Elementary School District got about $9.2 million and spent about $638,056 on learning loss. Its general expenditures total $5.7 million.

* Beardsley Elementary School District received $8.8 million and expended $715,804 toward learning loss. It's spent about $7 million on general funds.

* Rosedale Union Elementary School District got $4.4 million and spent about $798,654 for learning loss. The general funds were about $3.2 million.

* Fairfax Elementary School District got $8.5 million and spent about $1.3 million geared to learning loss. About $4.4 million was used as general spending.

* Edison School District got $2.9 million and spent about $521,662 on learning loss. Nearly $1.8 million was marked as general funds.

You can reach Ishani Desai at 661-395-7417. You can also follow her at @_ishanidesai on Twitter.