CARES ACT Funding

How Do I Get These Funds for My School?

Just Ask! That is the first step: Ask and don’t take “No” for an answer. Be persistent, the funding is there so you need not be afraid to keep asking. With the CARES Act, you are not filling out a form like with a typical grant but rather asking. These emergency funds are available and ready to be distributed to your school or district. Now you may be wondering, who do I ask? Who is on my team?

To start, you need to find the right people.

1. Contact your lead teacher or department chair. 
2. Next get the individuals in the purchasing department to help out. They know that your school or district has been funded, in fact, two of the primary line items that can be purchased through the CARES Act are technology equipment and professional development (both of which are products and services offered by Heart Zones).
3. Reach out to your health and physical education coordinator to elicit their involvement. Share with your school administration personnel that the CARES emergency funding allows for more students to be involved because you are providing them with much-needed connected physical activity technology solutions. 

If you need help pitching this idea to the higher ups, then snag the Heart Zones PowerPoint Presentation titled “Funding Template” on the Heart Zones Website to personalize if more convincing is needed.

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During the asking process, there are buzzwords and tricks that you can use to help you succeed. Here are some suggestions to help you get the “yes” when you ask:

1. Helps students focus on their health and safety by using home and at school connected physical activity and fitness technology.
2. Teaches self-management by using connected smart devices like step counting, heart rate, and other tools.
3. Provides student and teacher accountability at every level by using technology that helps quantify work completed like Heart Zones ePE solution to bring data to the remote learning environment.
4. Supports the management and implementation of SEL, social, and emotional learning programs.
5. Allows for more students to become involved in self-directed physical activity
6. Provides your program with much-needed solutions for online education, which benefits almost every student in the school with a well rounded education
7. This purchased technology increases student safety in Health & PE classes
8. Supporting the effective use of technology (including professional development)

“When you are having these conversations with principals, administrators and anyone else in your district that you’re going to be working with, it’s important to know the spend-by dates,” DOE Arizona’s Title IV-A Safe, Healthy & Active Students Specialist, Kerri Schoeff, said. Knowing the dates – and how much the district received – can help teachers seeking the funding overcome or work through initial funding decisions. Budget Challenge maintains a website that provides district-level detail on ESSER allocations.

So, Why not ASK for Heart Zones?

Heart Zones provides a measurement device, curriculum, and professional development that can be used by teachers to provide DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE physical education that is safe and supports the acquisition of motor, fitness, cognitive and personal social skills among students so that they may pursue a healthy, active lifestyle. 

 

Remember that the ESSER funds are focused as a stimulus for your programs. The primary purpose, the overarching goal is to buoy the depressed school budgets through a near-immediate injection of funds spent on schools. This is not a grant as you may have experienced before but a direct stimulus to your PE and health program. Ask for your share of these dollars today!

Frequently Asked Questions:

 

Do I Qualify for these ESSER Funds?

Yes! When applying for these emergency funds, rest assured that you qualify if you use them to facilitate the delivery of new instructional methods that focus on your students using technology, equipment, and PD (professional development and training).

Because this is emergency funding designed to quickly move money to the local schools, the CARES Act grants are distributed from Congress through ESSER Funds and sent to each individual state. It is your State Educational Agency (SEA) which is typically your state Department of Education (DOE). The SEA typically regrants to your Local Educational Agency (LEA). An LEA typically refers to a district’s local school board or the school district administration. This is important for you to realize that this is not like other grants. It is different, easier, and with little paperwork involved.

Are Charter Schools, K-12 Public & Private, and College/Universities eligible for ESSER Funds?

Yes. All schools in the USA are eligible. The local school agency is required to provide equitable services in non-public schools under the CARES Act Programs.

Where Did This Emergency $122 Billion Come From?

Congress authorized the funding which was then immediately provided to the state DOE, Department of Education, based on a fair allocation formula. To get it quickly to each individual school, the state DOE allocated the funds immediately to your LEA, local education agencies — which means your school district authority – probably your local school board. Money is sitting there waiting for you to ask for it.

How Much Money is Available?

To find out how much your state DOE, Department of Education, has available click here. For example, in Rhode Island, the state has spent 30.2% of their $195 million dollar sub-grant. These funds were distributed in 2022 to your local educational agencies for shared disbursement to you all.

How Much Money Can I Ask For?

Ask for as much as you need and want. See our Ask article about the CARES Act which shares the story of one Virginia PE coordinator who regrets that she did not ask for more than the $160,000 she requested.

Is There Any Money Left in the CARES Act ESSER Funds for Me?

Yes! There’s money left in most schools’ checking accounts for you to ask. “When they tell you that the funds are already spent or already allocated, they might not be talking about all three rounds of ESSER,” Schoeff said in 2021. “ESSER III was a really big chunk of money so there may be some out there even if you are originally told it’s not.” Your request for these dollars needs to be for technology because that is what the requirements of ESSER funding and not for playground equipment. Rather, this emergency funding is for you to purchase online physical education solutions that you can use now and after the pandemic. For the sake of your students, ask.