As of the 2024-25 year, the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund that was provided to Lakota as a result of the COVID-19 relief laws for the purpose of public and private school funding during COVID has reached the point where no more funds will be provided.
The fund initially granted almost $190 billion in aid to school districts across the US, according to the Harvard University Center for Education Policy Research. Implemented in 2020 and 2021, these funds assisted students across the country to deal with the difficult circumstances brought on by the pandemic. It applied to K-12 and post-secondary schools, and the law had three different stimulus bills: ESSER I, ESSER II, and ESSER III.
ESSER I occurred in March 2020, and it was part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The CARES Act applied to more than just schools, but the section of the act that dealt with funding schools during COVID set aside $13.2 billion for the purpose of technology, summer learning programs, and mental health support for students.
ESSER II was enacted in December 2020 as a part of the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSA). CRRSA was the second federal COVID relief act; it expanded on ESSER I with an extra $54.3 billion. The funding aimed to help schools reopen after quarantine and help out students who lost out on learning opportunities.
ESSER III, was a section of the American Rescue Plan (ARP). Set into action in March 2021, this section of the funding included both ESSER funds before it but added on $122 billion specifically for K-12 education.
According to Policy Matters Ohio, of all of the funds allocated by the federal government to states and schools across the country, Ohio schools received $489,205,200 from ESSER I, $1,991,251,095 from ESSER II, and $4,475,243,513 from ESSER III. Lakota specifically received $2.8 million. Lakota Treasurer Adam Zink said that Lakota had an initial plan for the ESSER funds, and they revisited the plans every six months. This plan stayed mostly the same except for the varying costs of consumable materials, which is what a majority of student fees pay for.
“[ESSER] was slated to expire in [the 2022-23 school year] with student fees returning in [the 2023-24 school year],” Zink told Spark. “We adjusted the plans to capture one additional year of student fees to give Lakota parents another year of relief, and brought the fees back [this school year].”
East senior Cami Bui said that she saw the effect the ESSER funds had on students when they were supplied to the district.
“With so many unpredictable circumstances hitting the country and community, families were already dealing with other hardships,” Bui told Spark. “When student fees were lowered, students and their families had one less thing to worry about financially.”
Now, four years after the first few years of COVID when the pandemic was affecting schools the most, ESSER fees are coming to an end. September 30 is the deadline for all of the ESSER fees, including the Lakota School District. Lakota used these funds in a number of ways, mostly for things like consumable school supplies.
Bui said that most of the school supplies were provided, but she did have a short list of supplies that she needed to purchase for the school year.
“The only materials that I’ve been told to purchase are various folders for different subjects and a calculator for math,” said Bui. “The rest of my teachers have not really mentioned anything, or everything has been supplied for us.”
The way that the new school fees are set are through a zero-based budgeting model. According to Zink, this means that the prior year expenses are used to estimate how much will need to be spent on school supplies in the coming year. This applies to art supplies, paper products, and other basic school supplies. There are also some consumable supplies that have set costs such as supply kits for grades K-8 and Chromebook extended warranties for grades K-12.
“At the end of the fiscal year, the Board will approve a transfer of money to cover expenses to this fund for all district waiver consumable fees per Ohio Revised Code,” said Zink.
Then, the following year consumable supply costs will be determined after the final cash balance is determined. There are two possible scenarios. The first is if the remaining balance is positive. This means that the school fees overestimated how much the supplies would cost, and the following year would remedy that excess by decreasing the fee. It is also positive that the remaining balance is negative.
“First, the Board will have to advance the amount of funds to make this fund zero dollars,” said Zink. “We will then increase the fee in the building or grade bands where the insufficient collection was received, taking into consideration the cost for the building’s recommended changes, as well as parent feedback through a survey we are developing.”
Zink said that, if it were possible, then the student fees would be exactly what the district needed to cover all the expenses. However, it is very difficult to perfectly estimate all expenses that student fees will need to cover because it changes from year to year, according to Zink.
Pay-to-participate fees for sports and marching band are the main increase. The increase in fees for junior school participation fees per student for the 2024-25 school year is from $150 to $225. For high schoolers, the increase for each student is from $200 to $300.
PaySchools Central is the new online payment portal, as opposed to EZpay, which was used in past years. There is also an online processing fee for adding money to a lunch account or paying school or activity fees. For any credit or debit card charge under $25, the convenience fee is $1.65 per transaction. If the payment is between $25 and $50, the convenience fee is $2.00. However, if the payment is more than $50, the convenience fee is 4.5% of the entire transaction cost. This online convenience fee can be avoided if a check is dropped off at the school.
While school fees are raised, there is a family cap for the amount of money that each family can pay, $600 for one student and $900 for any family with more than one student. East Principal Rob Burnside said that these family caps are helpful to families with multiple children in the Lakota district, because the maximum ensures that the money families pay is not an unrealistically large amount. This provides more opportunities to families and makes sure that kids can participate in as many activities as possible.
“The reason for the cap is because we know we have students and student athletes and musicians and people who participate in multiple clubs,” Burnside told Spark. “All those kids playing two sports, participating in two or three different clubs, if [they] didn’t have a cap, that would be a huge burden on families, specifically larger families that have more kids. So, the cap is there to try and mitigate that and manage that so that it doesn’t create a situation where only one kid in a family can participate and things of that nature.”
There are also some classes and activities with outlier costs, including but not limited to AP exams, summer school classes, and instrument rental. According to Zink, the fees for these outliers will also be reevaluated to see if the costs should be changed in the future.
Prices for meals provided in the school are being raised. From the 2017-18 school year to the 2023-24 school year, the price for a lunch entree for grades K-6 was $2.50 and the price for 7-12 was $2.75. Now, as of the 2024-25 school year, the lunch price for all grades is $3.00. In the past years, daily breakfast cost $1.50 for all grades in Lakota, and the new breakfast price for all grades is $1.75.
Bui said that, while the school lunch price changes might seem small, there are still students who will be affected by it.
“I could definitely see [students] purchasing less food and spending less money for breakfast and lunch,” said Bui. “Knowing that the prices are much higher may cause students to cut back on the amount of food they purchase. Some may be more inclined to bring their lunch from home, but some may just choose or be forced to not eat during the day, which can definitely hinder learning.”
Some students need to buy food at school due to a lack of food at home. Lakota still offers free meals and reduced prices for lunch and breakfast. The reduced price is $0.40 per meal.
Lakota Director of Schools and Community Relations Betsy Fuller said that these changes were communicated to parents initially last year, followed by repeated communication through the website and from an update from Zink.
“At the start of the 2023-2024 school year, we shared with our families that it would be the last year the district would be able to use ESSER funds to waive student fees,” Fuller told Spark. “In May, Mr. Zink reiterated this with his five-year forecast update to the Board of Education. More information was shared with families on our website and through back-to-school communications over the summer.”
Even though there are other fee changes, there are currently no plans for charging Lakota students for parking spots. At many schools in the area, such as Fairfield and Hamilton, students are required to buy parking passes if they want to drive to school. However, these districts also provide a busing system for their high schoolers. Lakota’s busing system covers all students, except for East and West main campus students. For this reason, students are not required to pay for their parking passes. As opposed to driving to school being more of a privilege for Lakota students, driving or getting a ride to school is the only option.
“The mindset of the district has been that we’re not going to charge for parking just due to the simple fact that our students don’t have the option of taking buses,” said Burnside. “As long as our situation continues to be what it is, I think the district will do everything in our power to not charge students for parking spots.”
Seniors do have the opportunity to paint their parking spots, and there is a charge of $20. This is because it is a PTSO fundraiser, not connected to the student fees.
While ESSER helped to fund schools throughout COVID, the deadline has now been reached and schools must find a way to buy school supplies. These school fees will fund the education and other pursuits that students will engage in at Lakota, and ensure students have the materials needed to learn.
