Lorain schools detail state and federal student-wellness spending, partnership with QuickMed

At its April 28, 2025, meeting, the Lorain City School District Board of Education heard a presentation from Vicki Timko, the district's director of federal programs and grants, on how the district and the state have used recently created student-wellness and federal grant funds.

Timko said the state’s Student Wellness and Success Funds (SWSF) and Disadvantaged Pupil Impact Aid (DPIA) — both created under Governor Mike DeWine’s education initiatives — supported wraparound services and staffing across Ohio in fiscal year 2024. "During fiscal year 24, districts across the state spent over $885,000,000 in student wellness and success funds and disadvantaged pupil impact aid," Timko said, citing statewide reporting she displayed to the board.

The presentation explained why the funds matter locally: state guidance required districts to use at least 50% of SWSF/DPIA allocations for mental-health or physical-health services or a combination of both. Timko told the board that statewide reporting showed those categories and reading interventions as top expenditures and that districts reported adding staff — about 6,239 new full‑time‑equivalent positions and more than 17,000 existing FTE roles supported in that year.

Locally, Timko said Lorain City Schools spent SWSF and DPIA money on social‑worker salaries and benefits, nursing, safety and security, contracted wraparound services, academic intervention, instructional technology and the district media clerk. She said the district partners with local community providers to deliver services: "We partnered with QuickMed. QuickMed is a community oriented, locally owned and operated urgent care here in Northeast Ohio. And as you are all well aware, our clinic is housed and located in Washington Elementary," Timko said.

Timko also reviewed federal Title programs the district administers through the U.S. Department of Education. She outlined typical Title I uses — reading and math interventions, summer programming, family-engagement nights and schoolwide services — and noted Lorain is a schoolwide Title I district, meaning Title I supports are available districtwide rather than limited to targeted students. She summarized Title II‑A (staff development and instructional coaching), Title III (English‑learner supports), IDEA (special‑education staffing and services) and Title IV (supplemental activities such as mentoring, social‑emotional learning and counselors).

Timko said federal and state grants require planning, measurable goals and reporting to the state. She encouraged parents and community members to provide feedback via a survey QR code and to review the district’s school‑parent compacts and federal‑programs information on the district website. Timko identified Casey Smith as a member of the grants office who works with her on compliance and reporting.

Board members later praised student artwork that had been displayed earlier in the meeting and acknowledged the connection between curricular work and arts programming, though no formal action was taken on the funding presentation.

The presentation materials Timko referenced included statewide spending tables and local expenditure lists for fiscal year 2024; Timko directed board members and the public to the Ohio Department of Education website for the full statewide report.