By Shelby Wieman
Governor Polis this week announced $44 million in Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) funding for school districts, schools, and institutions of higher education, and other education-related entities to address the impact of COVID-19. The majority of these funds will be utilized for grants to school districts, public schools, and public institutions of higher education serving high-needs students in order to help prevent and address the “COVID slide” and support innovation and equity. In addition, the state will provide significant funding to increase capacity for Colorado Empowered Learning, the state-supported supplemental online program, in order to help school districts and schools access virtual content and professional development for educators in blended instructional models.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has created significant challenges across our state, but it has also created new opportunities to support innovation, increase equity, and improve our ability to offer high-quality blended instructional models across our state,” said Governor Jared Polis. “We are grateful to our federal partners for providing flexible funding that we can utilize to support Colorado students from preschool to higher education, increase capacity in rural areas, and invest in innovative approaches to improving student learning that can be replicated and scaled for years to come.”
Over $33 million in grants to school districts, public schools, public institutions of higher education, and other education-related entities to support equity and innovation to address the COVID-19 crisis. The COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated existing achievement gaps for students who already face challenges, including low-income students, minority students, English-language learners, students with disabilities, and students experiencing homelessness or in foster care. These grants will focus on student-centered learning, rethinking the student experience, strengthening and formalizing linkages between higher education, PK-12, and industry, and catalyzing innovations that can drive long-term impact and be sustainable after the life of the grant.
Priority will be given to proposals that serve children and families who have been disproportionately impacted from the health or economic effects of the virus, or rural areas, or to serve schools or school districts in priority improvement or turnaround.
$5-6 million for dramatically increasing capacity for Colorado Empowered Learning. Governor Polis plans to work closely with the Colorado Department of Education to dramatically increase capacity for Colorado Empowered Learning, our state-supported supplemental online program that provides Colorado school districts, BOCES, and charter schools with access to fully-designed online courses, LMS platform options, professional development, and technical assistance for implementing blended and online learning models. These funds will allow school districts, BOCES, and charter schools greater access to this already developed and adaptive virtual content at low or no cost, and will help to build the capacity of our teachers by expanding access to professional development and coaching, whether in person or virtual, in blended instructional models.
$1 million for ensuring that all Colorado students with financial need receive direct support from institutions of higher education. Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) provided $144 million to Colorado’s public institutions of higher education, 50 percent of which needed to be utilized to provide direct support to students. However, some resident students with financial need were excluded from such aid. The Governor’s office plans to utilize a portion of GEER funds to help ensure all qualified students with financial need receive the support they need to weather this crisis.
$3 million for investing in educator recruitment and retention to provide stability for school districts. The Quality Teacher Recruitment program provides support to organizations to recruit, select, train, and retain highly qualified teachers in areas that have had historic difficulty in attracting and keeping quality teachers. This program is even more important in an economic downturn, when school districts need support and stability in this area. Ensuring two years of funding for this program will help to support school districts that face significant challenges in the face of even further challenges with educator recruitment and retention this year.