In August 2024, the Office of K-12 Outreach was awarded a 2024-25 Michigan Applied Public Policy Research (MAPPR) grant from the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research (IPPSR) at Michigan State University to study how school districts in Michigan were navigating the September 2024 expiration of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds (August 2024 Emerging Research). During the 2024-25 academic year, the project team explored the extent to which Michigan K-12 districts faced an ESSER fiscal cliff, how they navigated perceived resource scarcity, and what structural and grant-related factors influenced whether they felt an ESSER fiscal cliff.
Using surveys of K-12 administrators from every region in Michigan, along with follow-up interviews of representative district leaders and the Michigan Department of Education, the researchers generated a collection of insights on these timely budgetary questions. They also developed policy recommendations for K-12 administrators, state policymakers in Michigan, and the federal government when it comes to the design, use, and evaluation of grant funds, along with K-12 education funding writ large.
Individuals in these roles and other folks interested in how Michigan districts managed the end of these unprecedented federal funds are encouraged to review the following reports:
They can also explore previous work from the Office of K-12 Outreach concerning ESSER funds from the very start of the COVID-19 era: