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Muscogee County School District outlines scaled-back summer learning plan and projects $1 million cost
Summary
Chief Academic Officer Tim Smith told the board Feb. 10 that the district expects to run a four-week summer learning program in June with a projected cost of about $1 million, down from $5'$7 million per year while ESSER funding was available; board members urged staff to budget time-and-a-half pay and to return with a spending breakdown.
Tim Smith, chief academic officer for the Muscogee County School District, gave the board an update Feb. 10 on plans for the district's summer learning experience and the program's post-ESSER funding model.
Smith said the district relied on federal ESSER funds for the past four summers and that those funds have ended. While the program previously cost roughly $5 million to $7 million per summer, Smith said the district's plan for the coming year is a projected $1 million program that will be funded from a mix of sources including the general fund, state pre-K grant funding for rising-kindergarten activities, consolidated funds and instructional extension funds.
What the plan would include: a four-week, Monday'Thursday schedule in June, four-hour daily sessions, minimum class sizes of 12'15 for elementary and middle grades and 20'25 for high school, targeted reading and math interventions for K—, credit recovery for high school students, and retention of AP/IB camps for high schoolers (AP/IB camp would run two weeks).
Smith said community partners had accounted for about $250,000 per summer under the ESSER model and that materials historically cost under $500,000; staff emphasized that roughly 80% or more of past summertime spending had gone to staffing. Smith told the board the district was reducing overtime/time-and-a-half pay that had been afforded by ESSER in prior years but that it would consider alternatives to keep the program attractive to teachers and bus drivers.
Board members pressed for a compensation decision before staff begin recruiting. At the meeting, board members signaled consensus for staff to prepare a budget scenario that maintains time-and-a-half pay for summer-learning personnel; staff said they would build the planned budget around that direction and bring a March update with itemized projections and comparisons to prior years.
Why it matters: The summer program has been a major post-pandemic learning-recovery tool. The district said it intends to target services to students with the greatest academic need rather than the broad open-enrollment model used when heavier ESSER funding was available, a shift district staff said is intended to make the program financially sustainable.
Next steps: Staff will provide a March update with a detailed budget comparison between prior summers (ESSER-funded) and the proposed $1 million program, including a breakdown of personnel, materials and partner/vendor spending, and will finalize recruiting, transportation and site plans no later than early March.
