Blog: Record Funding to Support Educator Retention and Professional Learning ($1.5 billion):

Record Funding to Support Educator Retention and Professional Learning ($1.5 billion):
How is your District Planning to Spend It?

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This fall, school districts, charter schools and county offices of education are receiving record investments to support educator retention and professional learning. These investments include $1.5 billion statewide in Educator Effectiveness Funds. They are required to spend the funds on professional learning for teachers and administrators, as well as paraprofessionals and classified staff who work with students. They are also encouraged to invite teachers and other school staff to identify the topics of professional learning they need. Districts will begin receiving their Educator Effectiveness allocations by early 2022. 

Thoughtful and targeted training and professional development for staff can create more inclusive teaching and learning environments, which are essential to attracting and retaining a diverse, prepared educator workforce. Environments where teachers and students feel a strong sense of inclusion and belonging and have support to build restorative and relationship-centered practices promote transformational cultural shifts for racially just schools. 

School districts must adopt a plan by December 30, 2021 that explains how they intend to spend their Educator Effectiveness Funds, starting in the 2021-22 school year and continuing through June 30, 2026. 

What must Educator Effectiveness funds be used for?

Districts must use them to provide instruction, training and professional development for teachers, administrators and other staff who work with students. What could this look like? 

• Coaching and mentoring for staff to foster a meaningful teaching and learning experience
• Programs improving instruction across all subject areas
• Practices and strategies that reengage students and lead to accelerated learning
• Strategies to implement social-emotional learning, trauma-informed practices, access to mental health services and other approaches that improve student well-being
• Practices to foster a positive school climate, including, but not limited to, restorative justice, implicit bias and discrimination and harassment prevention
• Instruction to support effective language-acquisition programs for English   learner students
• Strategies to improve inclusive practices for students receiving special education  services and develop individualized education programs and Section 504 plans
• New professional learning networks for educators
• Education and strategies to incorporate ethnic studies curricula into student instruction for grades 7-12 
• Instruction, education and strategies in early childhood education and expanding universal transitional kindergarten

Check out this infographic on the Educator Effectiveness Plans here [English, Spanish]!

Ask your District: 

• Have you asked teachers and other school staff to identify the professional development and training topics that they need to promote inclusion and belonging in their school communities and better serve students and families?
• Have you drafted your Educator Effectiveness Expenditure Plan yet after incorporating staff feedback? If so, could you post the draft online for community members to review?
• What investments do you plan to make with these funds and why? When will you start spending these funds?
• How much of this funding is being used for new services versus continuing existing services?
• When and how are you planning to request feedback from students, families and other community members on this plan?
• What metrics will you use to evaluate the impact of investments made with these funds and how will you report publicly on their effectiveness over time?
• Will you commit to engage with the community before making any material revisions to the Educator Effectiveness Expenditure Plan in the future?

Contact an administrator in your district’s state/federal programs or finance/budget departments with your questions, requests and feedback!