Investing in the Future - How Rhode Island Districts are Spending Federal COVID-19 Funding and Why It Matters

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Callum

Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, Rhode Island schools continue to face operational disruption, ongoing staff and student absences, and evolving health requirements. This brief explains how the future of the education system will be shaped less by daily pandemic challenges than by district use of federal ESSER recovery resources, totaling about $205 million across ESSER I and II. Using district plans and line-item budgets, it identifies four spending trends and key areas where state support and monitoring can be strengthened.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages15

Reading Time38 min

AccessFree to download

Executive Summary

Funding Context

Data and Coding Approach

Key Spending Trends

Areas for State Support

May 2022 Investing in the Future: How Rhode Island Districts are Spending Federal COVID-19 Funding and Why It Matters Nate Schwartz Alexander J. Bolves Executive Summary Two years after the start of COVID-19, Rhode Island schools continue to grapple with the effects of the pandemic, including shifting operating procedures, continued staff and student absences, and changing health mandates. Arguably, though, enduring changes to the school system will be determined not by the challenges of pandemic schooling, but by how schools use the vast infusion of federal recovery resources. Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds are providing almost $200 billion nationally toward COVID-19 recovery in schools over a four-year period, nearly doubling the typical federal K-12 budget. Rhode Island alone will receive over $645 million in ESSER. Depending on how the money gets spent, this level of funding has the potential to reshape key elements of Rhode Island’s educational system. This brief uses district plans and line-item budgets to highlight patterns in proposed district spending and to identify likely implications for the state. Our analysis looks at planned spending for the first two waves of funding: ESSER I, released in May 2020, and ESSER II, released in January 2021. Together, these funds add up to $205 million. In future analyses, we will layer in the third and final wave of $373 million ESSER III dollars, just released in March 2022. We document four key trends. • In line with state guidance, districts have committed to launching a series of intensive academic support programs to accelerate student learning. These programs will require significant staffing increases. All told, we estimate that Rhode Island districts will collectively aim to hire for over 1,000 academic personnel positions including teachers, tutors, interventionists, and classroom aides across the coming year. • With experts sounding the alarm on the growing mental health crisis among young people, districts are allotting significant portions of their funding toward programs and personnel aimed at student well-being. Most spending is directed at expanding broad-based wraparound services and tiered supports. Districts do not appear to be making large-scale structural changes in how they support student health and social-emotional wellness. • Districts are using the opportunities provided by new dollars to deepen ongoing work around curriculum, materials, and teacher professional learning, driven partially by new state laws on curriculum adoption. The result will be major investments in instructional materials and curriculum-focused professional development. • Providence Public School District (PPSD) is receiving both more funding and more funding per pupil than any other district in the state. Where other districts are investing large shares of funding in personnel who will become district employees, PPSD is focusing on curriculum, professional learning, and vendor services. Taken together, these spending trends suggest several important areas for state support and ongoing monitoring. We highlight several areas of opportunity, drawing both on our analysis of Rhode Island data and on reports of promising practices in other states. These areas of opportunity include: • Statewide support for staff recruitment and training • Stronger coordination and guidance around student mental health and wellness across social service agencies • New models for managing district consultants and professional development providers • Shared data collection and program evaluation standards Data This memo draws on both narrative and budget data from districts’ ESSER I and II spending plans. Rhode Island districts responded in narrative form to a series of questions dictated by the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) . ESSER I narratives, submitted in July 2020, focused primarily on shifting to online learning and

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Callum