North Cook News

The Norridge School District 80 has received its ESSER III grant from the federal government's American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding.

The grant, totaling just under $1 million, is the final round of ESSER funding for schools. The first round of ESSER was used to purchase laptop computers for the school district to continue learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The district is using the rest of its ESSER II funds for summer school programs. ESSER III comes with stipulations for spending and allocation.

"Once the Esser funds are finished, we will have to go back to conversations about charging for after-school enrichment programs, charging for summer school," Superintendent Michelle Guzik said in the district's Feb. 21 meeting. "These are things that we've been afforded the luxury of not having to pay for due to the federal funds from COVID. After the summer of 2024, all that will be gone."

Between the federal and state requirements, 25% of the funding must be used to address learning loss from the pandemic. Another 1% of the funding must be used in summer enrichment programs, and an additional 1% must be used for after-school enrichment programs. Less than 1% may be used for administrative costs for the district, but no more than that.

The new grant will go mainly toward HVAC projects to improve air quality, with more than $700,000 being allocated to those systems. The district will also use $142,000 to upgrade and replace some of its technology. The rest of the money will be split between addressing learning loss, summer enrichment and after-school programs.

The district will only spend just under $5,000 on after-school enrichment because it has a separate grant of $200,000 for that program. Summer enrichment will get the same amount, just under $5,000. There will be $23,000 set aside for learning loss, and that will fund more summer school and after-school tutoring, additional professional development and more support staff.