Three Steps Education Leaders Can Take to Continue Funding Family Engagement Work After ESSER Expires

When COVID-19 forced schools to close their doors and re-evaluate how to engage students in a virtual environment, the critical importance of partnerships with families came to light. Since then, school districts have been able to strengthen family engagement efforts with financial support from the federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund. For example, districts have used funds to hire school-based family engagement liaisons and to develop resources for families to use at home to address learning loss due to pandemic-related absences. However, ESSER expires in September 2024, and districts across the country will have to seek alternative funding sources to sustain these engagement initiatives.  

While the idea of family engagement in education is now broadly recognized, funding strategies to build effective partnerships have proven more tenuous. For example, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommended updates to the federal guidance on Title I Parent and Family engagement to more accurately reflect current federal law.  

With the end of ESSER funding on the horizon, we offer three steps education leaders can take to broaden options for family engagement funding:  

1. Education leaders should first take a look at the numerous federal, state, and local funding streams—such as Titles I-IV of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and the McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Assistance Improvements Act—that their school or district already receives. Explore the purpose and parameters of each funding stream either through your own research or by asking federal program staff in your district who oversee the distribution of that funding.  
   
   AIR experts have created a resource to help educators with this step. The resource identifies common federal funding sources, describes the intention of each funding stream, and offers examples for how to use funds from each source to improve family engagement efforts. It also provides links for where to find additional information about each funding stream. 
    
2. Once education leaders know how existing funding streams can be used, they should collaborate with colleagues to determine how the funds are currently being spent within their school or district and if they are being used to support family engagement. For example, several states and districts are using Migrant Education Program (MEP) funding to develop strategies for engaging and partnering with families. Districts can use MEP funding alongside Title III funds to support home visiting programs, family engagement outreach coordinator positions, and other activities to promote school-family partnership. 
   
   For instance, West Valley Yakima School District in Washington offers Kindergarten Readiness Nights for migrant and English learners who have not received support to prepare them for kindergarten. In addition, they offer a home visiting summer program where monolingual families learn ways to support their children at school. Learn more about the West Valley Yakima School District in this webinar recording.  
    
3. Braiding funds happens when districts coordinate funds from different sources for one purpose. Each fund maintains its own identity and reporting requirements.
   
   Learn more about braiding funding in this blog post from the Region 9 Comprehensive Center.

   Education leaders should then think about how their districts can fully leverage state and federal investments by collaborating across departments and braiding funding streams to strengthen school-family partnerships. Systematic collaboration can create connections across early learning and K-12 and engage families to promote student learning, wellness, child development, and school readiness. 
   
   Consider forming a districtwide family engagement committee that meets monthly and includes staff from across federal programs along with family representatives to focus on how various funding streams can be used to support student and family needs. Washoe County School District in Nevada has a family engagement advisory committee, which engages families in systemic reform to improve instruction. The district and the council work together to map out current efforts and assess where families and teachers' needs are, or are not, being met.  

By taking the above steps, education leaders can continue to bolster efforts to engage families and incorporate their voices well beyond the expiration of ESSER funds. 

Contact us to learn about AIR’s services to build capacity for improving family engagement systems in your district.