End of COVID relief funds forces some West Virginia schools to cut staff, question future

Lockers in a Kanawha County school in West Virginia. (Lexi Browning | West Virginia Watch)

Federal pandemic programs that poured more than $1.2 billion into West Virginia schools will sunset this fall, leaving some counties figuring out how to continue funding critical positions and programs.

The Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, or ESSER, which funded around 1,458 positions — jobs like teachers, reading specialists, nurses and custodians — in West Virginia public schools, according to data from the state education department.

The federal funds will expire as many counties are grappling with declining enrollment , which results in less funds — and sometimes less positions — in public schools.

In McDowell County, ESSER funds helped pay for after school programs and much-needed summer camps to help students combat learning loss during the break. More than half of students in the county aren’t proficient in math, West Virginia Department of Education data showed.

It also gave students the opportunity to experience new things, McDowell County Schools Assistant Superintendent Amanda Peyton said.

“There were field trips to see marine life,” she said. “Those dollars have given them opportunities they wouldn’t have had.”

She continued, “Now, some of my schools are trying to scurry to plan for summer camps — [those] who are not going to get federal dollars. Now, we’ll have to stretch to fund those.”

ESSER funded 43 staff members in McDowell this last school year, including custodians, nurses and a few teachers. Peyton said the county had worked those positions back into their normal budget; she doesn’t anticipate any job cuts.

The funds will expire on Sept. 31.

Federal data showed that West Virginia had spent around 80% of its funds as of April.

“Those dollars have given them opportunities they wouldn't have had.”

– Amanda Peyton, McDowell County Schools assistant superintendent

State Schools Superintendent Michele Blatt said a lot of the remaining money is being used for school construction projects.

“They’re pushing against a timeline to get those projects finished,” she said.

The state has until Jan. 28, 2025 to liquidate or pay all invoices on its obligations out of those funds.

Nationwide, researchers estimate that around 338,000 full-time school jobs will be lost and high-poverty schools are at the greatest risk of loss.

The number of school job cuts related to expiring funds is unknown as the WVDE doesn’t collect that data.

Raleigh County Schools proposed cutting 52 positions, in part, due to the loss of COVID-19 funding

Ninety positions could be cut in Mercer County Schools due to declining population and the loss of about $6 million in pandemic funding.

Marion County is expected to lose 40 positions in an effort to balance its budget as pandemic funding fades.

Kanawha County Schools, the state’s largest school district, used ESSER to fund 104 positions this past school year, including nurses, cooks, counselors, special education staff and more.

“[ ESSER] also allowed us to purchase very helpful support software like Lexia that helps with student diagnostics and supports teachers in meeting students where they are. That will continue,”  said Kanawha County Schools Communications Director Briana Warner.

Pandemic funding won’t pay for any positions this upcoming school year. An excess levy will help fund needed positions, including 15 counselors and 12 elementary art teachers.

“Any [ESSER] positions that were eliminated at the school level typically result in a certified teacher who applied for a support position going back into a teaching position based on certification,” Warner said. “Our general staffing season happened this January to April based on student enrollment and we’re down to about eight people that we’re still trying to match with positions.”

Karla Troppman, executive director of communications for Berkeley County Schools, said the county was able to retain most of the personnel that were fully or partially funded by ESSER.

“They have been filled in classroom teaching positions or have been absorbed in positions that are funded with other federal programs,” she said.

Pandemic spending didn’t equal big academic gains

The roughly $190 billion in federal relief dollars doled out to the nation’s public schools was meant to help districts hire additional staff to cope with pandemic’s upheaval to education.

In West Virginia, some of those dollars were used to hire interventionists as students posted historically low math and reading scores.

The money had few restrictions beyond a requirement that 20% addressed learning loss; and one analysis of federal data said the cash infusion had minimal impact on the state’s students’ outcomes in reading and math.

In other states, including Mississippi and Tennessee, pandemic funds corresponded with a strong recovery in eighth grade math and fourth grade reading.

Clawback threat, misspending and more

The WVDE  lacked “adequate capacity” to monitor how local school districts used the federal funds, a 2023 state audit found. The department has continued to monitor counties’ use of funds and posts those reports on its website .

Dozens of school districts misspent millions of the first rounds of pandemic relief funds, and as of now, there is no plan for the legislature to audit how schools spent the rest of their money.

The audit, which reviewed only a sample of purchases made since 2020, found that of the 54 school districts reviewed, 37 school districts were deemed “noncompliant” in their use of federal funds, including improper purchasing procedures or using funds for unallowable activities. In Upshur County , the school district spent $60,000 of federal funds on pool passes.

Ann Ali, communications director for the House of Delegates, said the audit was the most recent information available on the topic.

A new state law permits an agency review to be conducted at the request of Senate and House leadership or Joint Standing Committee at any time.

“ … We are unaware of any current plans for an additional audit on the same topic,” Ali wrote in an email.

West Virginia’s use of pandemic relief funds also caused a problem during the legislative session. State lawmakers, who were sorting out the fiscal year 2025 budget, in February learned that the federal government was threatening a $465 million clawback due to concerns that the state hadn’t spent enough of the pandemic dollars on education.

As a stipulation for receiving the money, the state needed to keep funding education at the same or a higher level than before the pandemic.

The state spent $8,464 per pupil in 2024, compared with $7,510 during Gov. Jim Justice’s first year as governor in 2017.

Lawmakers moved budget items around — and essentially passed a skinny budget — in order to qualify for a waiver from the U.S. Department of Education. While the threat of the clawback was dismissed , lawmakers are still dealing with lingering budget issues and could meet in August.

Funding the future

Blatt said her department has asked school leaders to look at what ESSER-funded programs were most helpful and consider shifting funds towards those programs.

“I think those student support programs have been very beneficial,” she said.

Peyton explained that McDowell County Schools will figure out how to continue its critical summer camps and afterschool programs.

“When the funds run out, that’s one of our fears … We’ve got to figure out how to sustain this,” she said.

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