BVSD, SVVSD plan to spend latest round of federal coronavirus relief money

Sep. 24—The Boulder Valley School District plans to focus on its highest need schools in allocating the latest round of federal coronavirus relief money, while the St. Vrain Valley School District is directing money to summer and afterschool tutoring programs.

Both school districts have received three rounds of federal coronavirus relief money, as well as money through the federal CARES Act and smaller grants from various sources to respond to the pandemic. For the third round of federal money, Colorado districts are submitting plans to the state for approval and are required to allocate at least 20% "to address learning loss through the implementation of evidence-based interventions."

Boulder Valley officials plan to present the district's plan to the school board at Tuesday's meeting before submitting it to the state.

Altogether, Boulder Valley has received about $41.4 million in coronavirus relief money through various sources. The district has spent or budgeted about $40 million and has $1.4 million left, which district officials said will allow them to respond to changing needs as the pandemic continues.

Boulder Valley received $14.9 million through the CARES Act, spending it on teacher salaries to cover the increase in learning time from spring 2020 to fall 2020 and to maintain employees.

"It was largely an economic stimulus effort to be able to maintain staff," said Boulder Valley Chief Financial Officer Bill Sutter.

The first round of federal relief money, about $1.5 million, was spent on remote learning technology, including classroom systems to allow teachers to teach both in-person and remote students simultaneously. The second round, about $6.2 million, paid for additional nurses, HVAC improvements, remote learning curriculum and personal protective equipment.

For the third round's $14 million, the majority, about $8 million, is going to provide three years of extra funding to six schools based on achievement and percentage of high-needs students. The extra funding is part of the district's plan to provide differentiated funding to schools based on need. The rest of the district's schools will get additional funding, in smaller amounts, through Boulder Valley's general fund.

"The overall goal is supporting students and making up for any learning loss and reducing disparities and achievement gaps," said Boulder Valley Superintendent Rob Anderson. "We're appreciative of these dollars and committed to investing them in right ways to support students."

Money from the third round also will go to Boulder Universal's remote learning Link program, COVID-19 testing and hiring additional school nurses. The district's charter schools will receive about $1 million, based on enrollment, with each charter determining how to spend its portion of the money.

In St. Vrain Valley, the district has received a total of about $52.4 million in coronavirus relief money through various sources. The district has spent $34.6 million and has about $17.9 million left to allocate.

"Primarily, it's devoted to our students and our classrooms," said St. Vrain Valley Superintendent Don Haddad. "We're trying to increase some of the time they have instructionally. It's all designed to continue to help our students move forward."

The district now is asking for community feedback about its plans to spend the third round of federal coronavirus relief money. For more information and to provide feedback, go to tinyurl.com/cscepdyv.

St. Vrain Valley received about $15.8 million in CARES Act money, spending about $5.5 million on increased instructional time and about $5 million on technology and increasing bandwidth. Another $1.3 million went to additional cleaning and personal protective equipment.

In the first round of federal coronavirus relief money, the district received about $2.5 million that was spent mainly on teachers for the online program, afterschool tutoring and additional cleaning and personal protective equipment.

In the second round, the district received about $9.3 million. About $5.1 million paid for increased instructional time, while about $1 million went to additional cleaning and personal protective equipment.

For the third round, St. Vrain Valley is receiving about $20.9 million.

The district so far has spent about $1.6 million on this past summer's Project Launch summer school program, as well as spending $2.5 million last school year to retain teachers despite enrollment losses — keeping class sizes lower to allow for more social distancing. Another $175,000 paid for a preschool through fifth grade online reading program.

For the remaining money, the district is proposing spending $3.3 million for next summer's Project Launch program, as well as about $3.2 million for a new afterschool tutoring program dubbed the Achievement Advancement Academy.

About $2.4 million is slated to go to the district's online program, while about $1.6 million would go to sanitizing, cleaning and personal protective equipment. The district's charter schools will receive about $2.1 million, based on enrollment, with each charter determining how to spend its portion of the money.