Press Release #21 / Feb. 4, 2025
With the last of the money related to the COVID-19 pandemic now officially spent, Dearborn Public Schools is providing a final update on how that money was used.
The district received almost $137 million in COVID related funding from 2020 through 2024, most of it from the various waves of the Elementary and Secondary School Elementary Relief Act (ESSER). All of the funding came with restrictions on how the district could use it. Money could only be spent on items that fell under certain categories related in some way to the pandemic.
The largest single category of spending was $51.6 million for “facilities acquisition, construction and improvements.” The district used the money to pay to add air-conditioning at seven elementary schools and put an addition on Haigh Elementary. The district was also able to use the funding to offset some items in the regular budget and put those savings back into school buildings, but that is not reflected in the official ESSERs report.
ESSER 3 was the only wave that allowed the district to use money for any building improvements, and the funding was limited to tasks such as improving air handling or adding more space to combat the spread of germs.
The buildings that received air conditioning include DuVall, Haigh, Howard, Long, Nowlin, Oakman, Snow and Whitmore Bolles. All eight of the schools also received much needed boiler replacements as part of the air-conditioning projects. Because heating is related to air-handling, the district was able to use the ESSER money to include new boilers as part of the larger HVAC overhaul. The district was not permitted to use ESSER funding to just replace a boiler.
For Haigh, air conditioning was included in the wing with the new classrooms and in the revamped cafeteria. The entire building is not air-conditioned.
The second largest ESSER spending category was almost $31 million for summer school to help students recover from missed learning during the pandemic. About $20 million was spent on summer school in 2021 as the pandemic waned and the district prepared to fully reopen. Another $10 million was spent on the 2022 summer school program.
Staffing costs were another large category for ESSER spending.
Social workers and psychologists accounted for $7.8 million in spending. The district used ESSER funding to significantly increase the number of social workers and to ensure social workers were available at every school. These employees specialize in helping address student mental health. Even with ESSER funding now over, Dearborn Schools has committed to keeping a larger pool of social workers as part of the regular budget.
For more details about how the district utilized its ESSER funding, please see the ESSER spending spreadsheet or view the ESSER spending graphic.
The Michigan COVID 19 Spending Dashboard also provides information in a different format for every school in the state.
