“Professional learning is teacher retention. It creates the workforce conditions that make teachers want to stay in the profession,” said Frederick Brown, president and CEO of Learning Forward, a professional learning advocacy organization during a webinar on Wednesday. And sufficient support requires adequate funding, which may be in jeopardy come fiscal year 2024.
Despite the recent debt ceiling deal enacted on June 3, federal education funding may still be in jeopardy, Learning Forward declared in a blog post. According to the article, Hosue Appropriations Committee Chair Kay Granger, a Republican from Texas, issued a statement on June 12 that the committee would be using FY 2022 levels as the bases for FY 2024 appropriations.
“Continuing down a dangerous path of proposed cuts for fiscal year 2024—20%-30% by administration and Department of Education estimates—means critical education programs are going to get caught in the crosshairs,” the blog post reads.
During a timely virtual briefing on Wednesday, several education leaders spoke with Brown about why such funding (Title II-A) is crucial for professional learning and the success of their teachers and school staff.
“We’re in a unique space where Title II funds are more important than ever,” said Maureen Tracey-Mooney, senior advisor in the Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development at the U.S. Department of Education.
Independent analysts estimate that around 27% of the $122 billion in American Rescue Plan ESSER funds have been used specifically for staffing needs, she noted. However, those funds will soon expire, thus highlighting the dire need for sufficient Title II support.
“Schools have been enthusiastically using those resources to invest in innovative strategies that are having an impact, resulting in folks making decisions to stay and driving recovery efforts that we’re seeing,” she said. “We know it would be absolutely devastating to not be able to sustain those efforts. It’s going to be challenging. Not every support that’s in place is going to remain.”
Which is why Title II-A funds are so critical, she added. President Joe Biden’s budget requested $2.19 billion in this area, and “we need every single one of those dollars to support our staffing needs in our schools,” she said. “It couldn’t be more vital.”
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Kevin Armstrong, principal at DuPont Hadley Middle School in Tennessee and vice president on the board of directors of the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP), explained why year-round professional learning is vital for the success of both teachers and students alike.
“I feel in order for us to have a solid grasp of curriculum, social-emotional learning, safety and other needs, it is pivotal that we are at our best for our students,” he said. “In order for that to happen, we must have professional learning that is not only beginning in the summer, but is ongoing throughout the school year so that our teachers can feel comfortable in the curriculum that they are pushing forward to students every single day, and quite honestly, so it doesn’t feel like ‘speed dating’ to teachers.”
Armstrong also shared how Title II funding has driven student achievement and professional development in his school. For instance, in the 2022-23 school year, preliminary data showed a 5% increase in their ELA data and potentially an 8% jump in math.
“We, along with other principals throughout the country, are fighting feverishly to get Covid in our rearview mirror, and we feel like having these funds definitely speaks to moving in that direction,” he said.
