With looming deadlines for K-12 districts to liquidate American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds, some school leaders are looking for creative ways to spend down their money.
A Jan. 9 memo from the U.S. Department of Education Office of Elementary and Secondary Education notes that all ESSER funds awarded to school districts must be obligated for expenditures by Sept. 30, and if the money is not spent by year’s end, liquidation extension requests are due by Dec. 31. The $122 billion ESSER fund, established during the COVID-19 pandemic, provides grants for learning recovery efforts. The memo also emphasizes that those who apply for extensions should explain how the expenditure would contribute to “acceleration of academic success for students, including those furthest from opportunity and with the greatest need.”
A cursory web search of ESSER opportunities shows ed-tech companies capitalizing on this deadline to pitch their tools, from digital math and reading programs to virtual reality headsets to attendance and emergency management software. One company making a pitch, For the Win Robotics, argues that “reusable technology” may have a leg up in the approval process, offering an unorthodox suggestion: drones.
“It’s [reusable technology] absolutely the best long-term value for school and students,” For the Win’s chief program officer Jennifer Nicholls said. “Funds are spread out for large numbers of students.”
She said drones score high marks for durability and STEM potential, so they may be an easy sell to federal decision-makers who will be inundated with expenditure and extension requests in the coming months.
Like various types of robotics packages and supplies for STEM projects, drone kits can serve students in several grade levels and are easily disassembled and organized at the end of the academic year to serve another class when summer vacation is over. Replacement parts are inexpensive, the teacher training process is simple and software updates come over the phone via Bluetooth technology, Nicholls said.
For the Win’s “Hopper” drone is used in about 1,000 school buildings across every region of the United States, Nicholls said, adding that her company is promoting the technology’s longevity as a good fit for remaining ESSER funds.
Nicholls said reusable technologies satisfy ESSER’s push for inclusivity because hands-on STEM activities are popular and accessible to neurodivergent learners as well as low-income students who might not otherwise have access to fun learning tools like Legos, robotics and drones.
“The whole goal is to spark an interest in STEM,” she said.
According to a recent report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan research and policy institute, half of the ESSER funds awarded in 13 states and Washington, D.C., remained unspent as of January 2024 due to supply chain delays or issues related to day-to-day functions like staff vacancies and hiring challenges. The five states with the most unspent ESSER funds were Nebraska (70 percent), Washington, D.C. (65 percent), Wisconsin (64 percent), New Mexico and Vermont (both at 61 percent).
