Henrico Schools receives $34.8M in federal pandemic relief money
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A new round of federal funding is providing a boost to Henrico County Public Schools – and an even larger amount is on the way soon.
The Henrico School Board Thursday accepted a total of about $34.87 million as part of the federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief II funding effort – money provided to local school systems for pandemic relief as part of the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2020. And thanks to the recent passage of the American Rescue Plan Act, HCPS expects to receive another $78 million in the coming months.
The money approved Thursday by the board will be used in three key areas during the coming two fiscal years (the first of which begins July 1):
• $8.56 million for personnel, where it will fund 15 positions for elementary reading specialists, 30 school counselor positions and 13 elementary library assistant positions;
• $17.16 million for operations, where it will fund the purchase of 52 new school buses and 10 new minivans; additional hot spots and added bandwidth for students; new security vestibules for 10 schools; HVAC repairs, building automation and air filter and air purifier purchases at a number of schools; and the replacement of HVAC units at others;
• $9.15 million for instructional resources, including for summer school instruction and transportation, pre-K through 12th grade literacy program materials; and other intervention and instructional resources.
Funding for some of those items (such as for $4.7 million worth of new school buses) already was included in the capital improvement program the Henrico Board of Supervisors adopted earlier this month, so school officials will work with general government officials to determine how or whether to reallocate that money, new HCPS Chief of Finance John Wack told the School Board.
The ESSER II funds must be spent by Sept. 30, 2023. The third round of funding through the program must be spent by Sept. 30, 2024. Henrico Schools previously received more than $9 million as part of the first ESSER funding effort.
