NDE’s ESSER III Application and Statewide Investments
NDE’s Five Investment Priorities
After extensive feedback from stakeholders and reviewing preliminary data from the 2020-21 school year, the NDE developed the following five priority areas for statewide investments.
- Access to Comprehensive Mental Health Services
- Reimagined Family and Community Engagement
- High-Quality Professional Learning and Bolstering the Teacher Pipeline
- Focus on Unfinished Learning and Supporting Learning Acceleration
- Modernize Information, Data, Technology, and Process Systems
Learn more about NDE’s specific investments across these five areas here:
| Contractor/Project | Description | ESSER II or III | Amount |
| SEL Consulting Collaborative | Development of framework to support mental health and rollout support | ESSER II | $25,750 |
| Harvard University (Kernals Afterschool) | Non-academic support, training, and screeners in the afterschool space | ESSER II | $150,000 |
| Mental Health Support Grant | Regionally-focused approach to mental health supports; Grants to 14 ESUs, and 123 school districts | ESSER II | $9,412,514 |
| MOSAIC | Non-academic support, training, and screeners | ESSER II | $200,000 |
| Mental Health Support Grant | Regionally-focused approach to mental health supports; Grants to 14 ESUs, and 123 school districts | ESSER III | $5,157,098 |
| Contractor/Project | Description | ESSER II or III | Amount |
| Nebraska Children & Families Foundation | Community schools pilot sites – 4 schools | ESSER II | $900,000 |
| TransAct | Translation services plug-in | ESSER II | $226,650 |
| NE Commission on Indian Affairs | Planning and support for schools serving predominantly Native American students | ESSER II | $49,500 |
| NE Latino American Commission | Planning and supports for schools serving predominantly Latino students | ESSER II | $49,500 |
| Ready Rosie | Early childhood education software – expansion project | ESSER III | $2,387,500 |
| Heartland Center for Leadership Development | Planning grant to support rural community school project leadership | ESSER III | $49,500 |
| Rural Community Schools Initiative | Regional full service community schools models | ESSER III | $1,000,000 |
| Nebraska Children & Families Foundation | Evaluation and coordination support | ESSER III | $70,000 |
| Children’s Hospital and Medical Center | Max the Vax campaign; Pediatrician led campaign | ESSER III | $500,000 |
| Contractor/Project | Description | ESSER II or III | Amount |
| University of Nebraska-Lincoln | Diverse Educator Initiative; Clubes Egualidades | ESSER II | $49,828 |
| SPED Inclusion Professional Learning | Professional learning for general education teachers to support inclusionary practices | ESSER II | $735,000 |
| Nebraska Children & Families Foundation | Campaign to support community-based health efforts – “Do Right, Right Now” | ESSER II | $200,000 |
| Ha’hanna Consulting LLC | Supports for schools serving predominantly Native American students | ESSER II | $500,000 |
| Ha’Hanna Consulting LLC | Supports for schools serving predominantly Native American students | ESSER III | $215,000 |
| SPED Inclusion Professional Learning | Professional learning for general education teachers to support inclusionary practices | ESSER III | $250,000 |
| Early Childhood Regional Coaches | Grants to 6 ESUs to support early childhood professional learning | ESSER III | $1,560,000 |
| Teacher Recruitment, Retention, Retraining Grant | Mini-grants and/or other initiatives to support recruitment, retention efforts | ESSER III | $1,600,000 |
| Staffing Capacity | Supplemental staff for NDE’s teacher certification to reduce barriers | ESSER III | $1,222,766 |
| NAESP | Planning and supports for cohort of early childhood principals to support early learning acceleration | ESSER III | $350,000 |
| Contractor/Project | Description | ESSER II or III | Amount |
| CEDARS | Tutoring and creation of modules for systems-involved students learning remotely | ESSER II | $460,000 |
| Nebraska Children & Families Foundation | Nebraska Center for Families Learning – Family Literacy Programing | ESSER II | $500,000 |
| YRTC Academic Investments | HQIM for YRTC sites (systems involved youth) | ESSER II | $501,705 |
| Five Ineligible Schools | ESSER II Investment in 5 districts ineligible for ESSER funds | ESSER II | $256,355 |
| reVISION Grant Supplement | Supplemental investment in Perkins reVISION grants | ESSER II | $395,693 |
| NROC | Digital learning resources | ESSER II | $25,000 |
| Zearn Math | High quality digital math resources available to all public and non-public schools | ESSER II | $1,400,000 |
| Hanover Research | Customized evidence-based project planning to support CIP | ESSER III | $249,508 |
| Hanover Research | Evidence-based resources portal access for ESUs | ESSER III | $524,000 |
| ESUCC | HQIM implementation support | ESSER III | $316,000 |
| Instruction Partners | K-8 Math Acceleration Supports; Coherence project | ESSER III | $5,600,000 |
| TNTP | CSI school intensive support; Learning acceleration PL series | ESSER III | $2,700,000 |
| CEDARS | Systems involved youth support | ESSER III | $319,000 |
| Nebraska Chamber | Workforce-education alignment consultant | ESSER III | $400,000 |
| Five Ineligible Districts | ESSER III investment in 5 districts ineligible for ESSER funds | ESSER III | $575,258 |
| Nebraska Children & Families Foundation | Consultants to provide suuport to districts for after school and summer programming; evaluation of summer and after school programming | ESSER III | $805,602 |
| Nebraska Children & Families Foundation | Systems involved youth specialist, early math, early literacy, community engagement specialist | ESSER III | $1,217,796 |
| Summer Programming | 1% setaside from ESSER III – | ESSER III | $5,462,901 |
| After School Programming | 1% setaside from ESSER III – | ESSER III | $5,462,901 |
| Contractor/Project | Description | ESSER II or III | Amount |
| OCIO/Covendis | Multimedia/Event Support ($99,544); Digital Learning Specialist ($118,944); Azure Support ($161,744); Business Analyst ($108,244); IT App Developer ($140,344); IT App Developer Senior ($161,744); PHP Developer ($138,000) | ESSER II | $928,564 |
| Agency Technology | Investments to support the hosting of virtual conferences and high-quality virtual professional learning | ESSER II | $345,000 |
| Center for Assessment | Support for informing decisions around state and federal accountability | ESSER II | $193,000 |
| Opportunity Labs | Development of budget roadmap for schools, ongoing support for pandemic response | ESSER II | $150,000 |
| University of Nebraska-Lincoln | COVID Impact Studies | ESSER II | $100,000 |
| Utah State University (TAESE) | Special education complaint investigation | ESSER II | $490,504 |
| Boys Town | Safe 2 Help investment; Suicide and crisis hotline access | ESSER II | $1,798,766 |
| Microsoft | Data security, data lake creation, API support | ESSER II | $1,000,000 |
| Boys Town | Safe 2 Help investment; Suicide and crisis hotline access | ESSER II | $850,000 |
| Children’s Hospital and Medical Center | School Nurse Consultant | ESSER III | $300,000 |
| Systems Investments (Process, People, Products) | Developing and modernizing data and process systems at NDE to reduce administrative burdens on staff, schools, and other users. | ESSER III | $4,136,902 |
| Systems Investments (People, Products, Process) | Developing and modernizing data and process systems at NDE to reduce administrative burdens on staff, schools, and other users. | ESSER III | $8,935,098 |
| NDE Staff Flex Position | Provide flexibility for additional staffing capacity at the NDE given changing needs. | ESSER III | $130,734 |
Unlike the previous ESSER allocations (ESSER I – CARES and ESSER II – CRSSA), the ESSER III- ARP requires the NDE to submit an application to the US Department of Education. The NDE collected input and reviewed qualitative and quantitative data in May 2021 to determine successes, priorities, and strategies for supporting and holding schools accountable and developing next steps for the use of funds.
Consultation
The NDE hosted 14 round table sessions with stakeholders including students, families, teachers, administrators, community leaders, tribes, youth serving-organizations, and other advocacy and civil rights groups. Additionally, the NDE fielded a survey to stakeholders seeking input on prioritization of strategies and investments of funds. Results from these two stakeholder outreach strategies can be found below.
Submission of Application/Plan
The NDE submitted the ESSER III – ARP state plan to the US Department of Education on June 21, 2021. The executive summary and the approved plan of the plan can be found below.