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.

  1. Access to Comprehensive Mental Health Services
  2. Reimagined Family and Community Engagement
  3. High-Quality Professional Learning and Bolstering the Teacher Pipeline
  4. Focus on Unfinished Learning and Supporting Learning Acceleration
  5. 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.

Updated July 13, 2023 4:33pm