Denver Public Schools leaders highlight how they plan to transition armed police officers back into everyday life for students and staff, among other changes, in the .

Throughout the next school year, DPS will bring armed police, known as school resource officers, back to its campuses after the district鈥檚 school board voted 4-3 on the policy earlier this year. Members who voted against the policy emphasized how having armed police in schools , which is why the board originally took SROs out of the district in 2020.

Superintendent Alex Marrero will have discretion to remove SROs who do not follow district policy, and the district plans to monitor citations and arrests to determine if marginalized individuals are disproportionately interacting with officers. Marrero where they were stationed this spring.

The new safety plan follows multiple instances of gun violence in the district this year, particularly an incident , when a student shot two administrators. The DPS Board of Education the next day held an emergency meeting. The members unanimously voted to temporarily bring back armed police officers to schools and directed Marrero to create a long-term safety plan.

Scott Pribble, a spokesperson for the district, said that over the next school year, families will see more mental health resources and support in addition to the return of school resource officers at the district鈥檚 secondary schools. Staff will also undergo additional safety training throughout the summer, and the district will conduct safety audits.

In an effort to increase accountability for SROs, the board will review data on citations and arrests quarterly and will need to approve them.

Interpreting the policy

The plan is broken down into three focus areas: personal conditions, school conditions, and system conditions. It highlights the current state of a variety of safety practices and protocols across the district and sets goals for what it hopes the future will look like for each tool used to improve safety.

Personal conditions include the mental, social, emotional, physical and behavioral health and safety of each person within the district, as the district wants to provide support that can help each student and staff member feel safe.

鈥淒PS recognizes that addressing youth violence and student safety requires a proactive and preventative approach,鈥� the plan says.

School conditions look at how those in each building work to create a safe and welcoming environment. Each school will also have an individual safety operational plan and a school emergency team, as well as regularly conducted safety audits.

鈥淲hen creating these school conditions, DPS seeks to foster caring, consistent relationships among both individuals and groups, including students, educators and families,鈥� the plan says. 鈥淩elationships like these promote resilience, serve to protect people, and reduce the impact of chronic or acute stress, ultimately creating school buildings where all people and the community can thrive.鈥�

The system conditions portion of the plan looks at systems both within the school community and outside that impact school and student safety. Here the plan outlines the possibility of adding weapons detection systems, which will be decided on a school-to-school basis, youth violence prevention at the elementary school level, community hubs, and the importance of out-of-school engagement.

鈥淭he issues throughout the neighborhoods are also reverberated in the schools throughout the district,鈥� the plan reads. 鈥淒PS takes an active role in partnering with the City of Denver, parents, students and community members to help address many of the issues; However DPS is constantly evaluating different ways we can support not only the learning environment of our students, but also the individual support systems of our students.鈥�

The next step in implementing the plan is for Marrero to draft a 鈥渞easonal interpretation,鈥� which the district spokesperson said is the superintendent鈥檚 understanding of how he will be evaluated by the board in carrying out the policies they approved. Then specific goals and metrics for measuring success will be developed with the board from there.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Colorado Newsline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Quentin Young for questions: info@coloradonewsline.com. Follow Colorado Newsline on and .

Six Colorado news outlets, including Newsline, are suing Denver Public Schools to gain access a recording of the district board鈥檚 in which board members discussed school safety plans and emerged with a new policy.

Members of the district鈥檚 Board of Education held a special meeting following a shooting last month at Denver鈥檚 East High School, which left two administrators injured. The incident was the on or near East High property in as many months, and the 17-year-old suspect was later found dead in Park County of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Board members spent the majority of the lengthy meeting behind closed doors, and upon returning to the public, voted unanimously to without any public discussion.

Under Colorado鈥檚 Open Meetings Law, elected bodies such as school boards cannot make decisions on new policies or legislation out of the public eye. There are some exceptions that allow for closed-door executive sessions, including board consultations for legal advice, discussions on personnel matters and on individual students. Topics listed for discussion at the March 23 executive session included 鈥渟ecurity arrangements or investigations鈥� related to the March 22 shooting, and details about individual students 鈥渨here public disclosure would adversely affect that person or persons involved.鈥�

The lawsuit鈥檚 plaintiffs include Newsline, The Denver Post, Colorado Politics/The Denver Gazette, KDVR Fox 31, Chalkbeat Colorado and KUSA 9News. Each of the news outlets filed a Colorado Open Records Request for the executive session recording and were all denied.

Rachael Johnson, an attorney with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and Steve Zansberg, a First Amendment attorney and president of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition, are representing the coalition of news outlets. Zansberg said of the Colorado Sunshine Law.

Zansberg said the first issue the complaint addresses is the lack of proper notice regarding what board members would discuss behind closed doors. He said Colorado law says that when a public body fails to adequately announce its topic of discussion, the meeting is considered an 鈥渦nlawfully closed public meeting,鈥� not an executive session.

鈥淭hey just went behind closed doors and discussed public business,鈥� Zansberg said.

Even if the board properly announced the topics of discussion for a lawful executive session, Zansberg said the fact that board members left the five-hour discussion with a policy change and no public discussion is a blatant vilation of Colorado鈥檚 Open Meetings Law.

If there is probable cause to believe that a publicly elected board made a decision in an executive session, a judge will review the recording of the session and determine if this was the case, Zansberg said. Public bodies in Colorado are prohibited from adopting not just new policies, but any position on an issue behind closed doors.

鈥淚t was what the case law says was 鈥榓 rubber stamping鈥� of a decision that had already been made behind closed doors, and that too violates the Open Meetings Law,鈥� Zansberg said.

A 鈥榯remendous amount of public interest鈥�

Jeff Roberts, executive director of CFOIC, said there was an expectation that board members would have a public discussion following the private meeting where they discussed a high-profile situation with consequences for the entire district. He said there has been a 鈥渢remendous amount of public interest鈥� in school safety plans and changes around school resource officers.

鈥淏oth the open meetings law, and there鈥檚 a separate statute about school board meetings, both of them say policy decisions are not permitted in executive sessions,鈥� Roberts said. 鈥淔or executive sessions, there are certain authorized topics that they can discuss behind closed doors, but when they鈥檙e talking about changing a policy, which is what they did here, that鈥檚 something that needs to be done in a public setting. That鈥檚 the intent and the spirit of these laws.鈥�

The only time an executive session is not to be recorded is when an elected body receives specific legal advice from an attorney. DPS鈥檚 general counsel, Aaron Thompson, was present in the executive session, but it鈥檚 unclear what role he played in the board鈥檚 discussion and if there is a recording of the private portion of the meeting.

The minutes from the executive session also on how long board members discussed each topic, another requirement of state law.

The district has the right to release the recording of the meeting at any time, and Zansberg said this would be the best thing the district can do to save taxpayers 鈥渢he cost of having to defend this indefensible position.鈥� If that happens, there鈥檚 no reason left for the plaintiffs in the complaint to continue litigating.

鈥淚 would again urge the Board of Education to exercise its discretion and release this recording,鈥� Zansberg said.

Depending on how the district decides to respond to the suit, Zansberg said it can take a few months for the courts to issue a decision.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Colorado Newsline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Quentin Young for questions: info@coloradonewsline.com. Follow Colorado Newsline on and .

Despite a dramatic decline in suspensions as students moved to remote learning during the pandemic, Black children and those in special education were disciplined far more often than white students and those in general education, according to a recent New York University .

The report also indicates students’ this past academic year, echoing news accounts of as a result of and of 850 school leaders where roughly 1 in 3 reported an increase in student fights or physical attacks.

And, it notes, some schools have turned away from restorative justice programs that grew out of the Obama era to more punitive tactics, including out-of-school suspensions, which are particularly damaging to students: shows they and can foreshadow .

The Department of Education is in the process of revising its own disciplinary recommendations with a focus on these same student groups. 

鈥淭his is perhaps one of the most urgent civil rights and social justice issues in education,鈥� said Richard O. Welsh, assistant professor at NYU鈥檚 Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development and the study鈥檚 author. 鈥淚t is incredibly important in our effort to create a more equal and just society that we look at the school system and consider opportunities to learn and grow.鈥�

Welsh cites two sources in his June 10 report: a 13,000-student district in the Atlanta metro area that allowed him to scrutinize its disciplinary records from 2014 to 2022 and news reports on student discipline culled from around the country. 

He found that while suspensions plummeted at the Georgia district during the pandemic, Black students were still more likely to face punishment as compared to white and Hispanic students. from .

Welsh learned that while the Georgia district鈥檚 office discipline referrals 鈥� such as a teacher sending a child to the principal鈥檚 office during in-person learning 鈥� declined in the 2020-21 school year, 82% of those referrals involved Black children, who made up only 48% of the student body.

Special education students accounted for 15% of the district鈥檚 overall population, but were 42% of the referrals that year. That number was not only disproportionate, it marked a significant spike from pre-pandemic years, when special needs students represented 29% of discipline referrals. Welsh found, too, Black children continued to be singled out in this category: Between 2015 and 2019, 23% of students referred for office discipline were Black students enrolled in special education. The figure jumped to 37% in 2020-21. 

Disproportionality is a longstanding problem when it comes to school discipline. 

American children lost of instruction in the 2017-18 academic year because of out-of-school suspensions, according to the most recent data available from the U.S. Department of Education. 

While Black students made up , they accounted for nearly 42% of the suspensions: were 13.75% of and more than 24% of suspensions.

Too much punishment, or too little

Many school systems around the country have not yet compiled their disciplinary data for this past school year. But Welsh said interviews with staff at the Georgia district plus information gleaned from local news reports 鈥減oints to an uptick in disciplinary infractions and consequences鈥� in 2021-22. 

In step with his findings, Rohini Singh, assistant director at the School Justice Project for Advocates for Children of New York, said some schools are ratcheting up the punishments for incidents that would have been handled differently prior to the pandemic. 

This is particularly true of on-campus fights, she said: A scuffle between two children that drew a crowd of onlookers might not have resulted in an out-of-school suspension in the past, but has stark consequences today 鈥� and not only for the students at the heart of the tussle. Onlookers are also being targeted, she said, charged with an infraction called 鈥済roup violence,鈥� a punishment previously doled out only to those who planned an attack in advance.

鈥淭he school is seeking a [lengthy] suspension for all of these students instead of looking at the individual circumstances, understanding what happened, the context,鈥� Singh said. 

New York City Department of Education Press Secretary Nathaniel Styer said he could not comment on specific discipline cases without knowing the names of the students involved. In 2019, the DOE moved to to 20 days, restrict student arrests and train educators in alternative disciplinary practices.

At least reports some NYC teachers and parents believe children are not being punished enough and that serious student misbehavior is often ignored. DOE data does show, from 14,502 for the first four months of the 2017-18 school year to 8,369 for the same time period four years later.

The city school system has committed millions to restorative justice programs that focus on reconciliation over punishment to address long-standing racial disparities. are mixed but a 2021 showed children with the highest levels of exposure to restorative practices experienced Black鈥搘hite discipline disparities five times smaller than those with the lowest levels of exposure.

Dana Ashley oversees a joint program between the United Federation of Teachers and the DOE aimed at changing the culture and climate in dozens of schools, moving them away from after-the-fact disciplinary tactics. She said teachers who have had continuous training on how to handle student meltdowns feel less discontented than those who have not. 

鈥淭eachers are frustrated when they are told they are supposed to know something, but are not given the resources to know it and do it well,鈥� she said.

Elsewhere in the country, Chicago Public Schools saw a 16% increase in out-of-school suspensions for high school students in the first semester of the 2021-22 school year compared to the same time period two years earlier. 

But, said Jadine Chou, head of safety and security at the 341,000-student district, it could have been far worse: CPS saw a 38% reduction in police notifications and a 50% drop in expulsions at its high schools during this same time period, which Chou attributes to the district鈥檚 long-standing commitment to restorative justice. 

鈥淲e are very grateful to our school staff that they have signed on to this mindset,鈥� she said, calling it, 鈥渢he right thing to do.鈥�

Pandemic-related trauma

In the current climate, Andrew R. Hairston, director of the Education Justice Project at Texas Appleseed, said schools must factor in pandemic-related trauma when evaluating student behavior: Educators must remember many of these children lost loved ones, survived food and housing insecurity and endured unprecedented levels of isolation 鈥� and, in some cases, abuse 鈥� prior to returning to the classroom. 

Their re-entry was botched, he said: Children needed greater flexibility and compassion. 

鈥淭here is some lip service to social-emotional learning, but the investments don鈥檛 meet the needs,鈥� he said. 

Anell Eccleston, director of care and sustainability at the Student Advocacy Center of Michigan, said his organization鈥檚 helpline received nearly 300 calls this past school year from families concerned with disciplinary issues 鈥� up from roughly 150 prior to the pandemic. 

鈥淭he majority of calls are from students who qualify for free or reduced lunch and single-parent homes, where their parent or guardian has also been impacted harshly by the pandemic,鈥� he said. 鈥淪ome schools are reimplementing zero tolerance practices and pushing out students at high rates.鈥�

Out West, Paradise Valley Schools, which serves some 30,000 students in Phoenix and Scottsdale, also saw a jump in out-of-school suspensions, from 1,223 in 2018-19 to 1,356 last school year. In-school-suspensions dropped from 1,135 to 1,091 in that same time period. 

School should have given younger students more time to play and older kids a greater opportunity to manage their emotions, perhaps allowing them to leave the classroom to cool off, said Meenal McNary, a co-collaborator with the Round Rock Black Parents Association in Texas. But a 鈥渞eturn-to-normal鈥� mindset won out, she said.

McNary pulled her three children, ages 5, 10 and 12, from her local public school district last year in favor of a small charter with a far higher percentage of Black and Hispanic children. 

But even that didn鈥檛 spare them from what she believes is outsized punishment for minor infractions, like their failure to sit still and listen: When one of her kids was talking to another student in class while his teacher was delivering a lesson, the educator took away his Chromebook for a week as punishment, she said.

鈥淭hey use that to learn,鈥� she said. 鈥淗ow does that make any sense? Why can鈥檛 we do something different? OK, he鈥檚 bored, so what else can we do?鈥�

Add high-stakes tests, pandemic-related stress for all and the constant threat of gun violence and both teachers and students are flailing, she said.

The roughest year of my life 

Some states, recognizing the long-term damage of strict punishment, have tried to dramatically curb heavy-handed measures: Gov. Bruce Rauner in 2015 signed legislation aimed at making suspensions a last resort in an attempt to disrupt the . , including Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Louisiana and Nevada, have limited the grade levels in which out-of-school suspensions and expulsions can be used. 

Denver Public Schools, which served 86,600 students last school year, started implementing restorative justice practices in 2005. A 2017 grant grew the program exponentially, prompting a 64% decrease in out-of-school suspensions overall, with a 77% decline for Black students and a 79% drop for children with disabilities, said Jay Grimm, the district’s director of student equity and opportunity. 

But this past school year brought new challenges. The district saw a marked increase in what the state of Colorado dubs “detrimental behavior,” including student fights and bullying. In 2018-19, such behavior resulted in 1,155 out-of-school suspensions. Last year, the figure jumped to 1,754. 

The district shrunk by roughly 4,000 students in that same time period.

Grimm said the school system remains committed to alternative forms of managing student misbehavior. There was a 41.5% reduction in expulsions this past school year compared to 2018-19, partly because the district changed the way teachers report classroom insubordination, which, he said, 鈥渃ould be subjective or have some bias.鈥�

Nearly everyone who returned to the classroom last school year was at a disadvantage, administrators said. Teachers started the year burned out and those who were new to the profession, who joined the field when school was remote, had trouble managing their students. 

Melissa Laurel, an educator for 21 years, said her South Texas charter school saw a four-fold increase in disciplinary referrals this past academic year. While fights remained relatively uncommon at her 6th- through 12th-grade campus, vandalism skyrocketed as children answered TikTok challenges that left her school鈥檚 bathrooms damaged. 

Worse yet, she said, parents, who used to be allies in helping teachers manage their children at school, were suddenly unsupportive. A high-ranking administrator on the road to becoming principal, Laurel left the post to work at the charter鈥檚 regional office in part because of poor student behavior.

鈥淚t was the roughest year of my life,鈥� said Laurel, who starts her new position in July. 鈥淭he kids were just more aggressive.鈥� 

David Combs, former assistant principal at a Knoxville, Tennessee high school, said staff observed an increase in racial slurs among students and more vandalism than he had ever seen in his 23 years in education 鈥� combined.

Combs, who will start a new position at a different district in the fall, attributes the change to too much time at home and on the internet. 

鈥淚t was as if they missed a stage in development and maturity,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut, toward the end of the year, that was starting to decline.鈥� 

McNary, the Round Rock parent leader, is empathetic to teachers, saying they had to manage an entirely new, fraught landscape: Not only did they have unruly students but they also had to abide by new Texas state laws restricting discussions of systemic racism and LGBTQ issues.

鈥淭eachers not only have to make sure their kids are OK, but also to not say anything wrong,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hen are they supposed to get to know the children?鈥�

But now, with chicken and beef prices up, a worldwide shortage of packaging materials and a dearth of long-haul truckers, she鈥檚 not as sure what she鈥檒l be serving the district鈥檚 18,000 students this fall. And she won鈥檛 be surprised if distributors start adding transportation surcharges 鈥渢o stop the bleeding on their end鈥� 鈥� something she hasn鈥檛 seen since the Great Recession.

Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for 蜜桃影视 Newsletter

鈥淚t鈥檚 a domino effect,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e at the point now where we don鈥檛 even know what鈥檚 going to come in the back door.鈥�

Food services are just one aspect of school operations affected by inflation, which is experiencing a 13-year high. Wages are climbing because districts can鈥檛 find enough employees to drive buses or provide students additional academic support. Price hikes on materials are causing some districts to hit pause on construction projects and districts are for teachers to help students catch up.

At a time when the American Rescue Plan is flooding school districts with more federal money than they鈥檝e ever had, educators are slowly awakening to the reality that those funds might not go as far as expected and that inflation may have a lasting impact on their regular budgets as well .

鈥淪chool districts are like little cities. You鈥檝e got food service. You鈥檝e got transportation. You鈥檝e got maintenance. Inflation across the sectors will impact all those areas,鈥� said Charles Carpenter, chief financial officer for the Denver Public Schools.

The economic indicators are clear. This summer, the Consumer Price Index 鈥� which measures changes in what people typically pay for goods and services 鈥� saw its largest one-month and 12-month increases since 2008, according to the government鈥檚 .

Experts attribute in inflation in part to the rollback of pandemic restrictions: Consumers are traveling, eating out and shopping more, which is driving up prices. But there鈥檚 not enough supply to meet the demand.

The debate is over how much to worry about it. Some that President Joe Biden鈥檚 policies 鈥� the partisan relief bill that passed in March and his big-ticket infrastructure packages 鈥� will hurt the economy, while others argue this period of inflation and won鈥檛 spiral out of control.

Either way, Carpenter is closely monitoring costs of raw materials like lumber and copper as the district moves forward with building new schools and adding air-conditioning to 24 sites over the next three years.

Contractors 鈥渁re bidding on our projects knowing that they鈥檒l see price increases,鈥� he said. 鈥淒o you try and push forward now and lock in a price or wait and it could be worse?鈥�

Some districts are discussing whether to to lower prices and others have decided to pause projects because contractors can鈥檛 provide solid cost estimates. The St. Clair R-III School District, southwest of St. Louis, decided in June to delay construction on a performing arts center and a bus facility until costs stabilize. 鈥淚t has become much more difficult to obtain competitive, cost-effective bids for construction projects,鈥� Superintendent Kyle Kruse said in his report to the board.

鈥楥an鈥檛 find the people鈥�

While districts might be able to defer construction or renovation, they can鈥檛 put off addressing students鈥� academic needs 鈥� especially given the extreme learning loss that often accompanied more than a year of remote learning.

鈥淲e鈥檝e got this short-term demand for services to mitigate instructional loss and a shortage of labor willing to put in that time,鈥� said Jonathan Travers, who leads consulting services for Education Resource Strategies, a nonprofit that helps districts leverage resources to improve student learning.

That鈥檚 why in addition to price hikes on materials, districts are seeing higher labor costs. Some have offered bonuses and even to attract summer school teachers. The danger for districts, he said, is that unions might expect to maintain those higher wages when they return to the bargaining table to negotiate future contracts.

In Plymouth-Canton, Hennessey still has 20 positions to fill before fall. She said entry-level school nutrition employees earn about $11 per hour, but that doesn鈥檛 come close to the $15 they can earn at McDonald鈥檚. And districts nationally are struggling to find even with higher pay.

鈥淚t鈥檚 great to have all this money,鈥� said Uri Monson, chief financial officer with the Philadelphia schools. 鈥淏ut if you can鈥檛 find the people to do the work 鈥� even if you鈥檙e going to pay them 鈥� that鈥檚 a problem.鈥�

Districts aren鈥檛 the only ones feeling the pinch. from the accounting firm KPMGshowed parents estimate they鈥檒l spend an average of $20 more on school supplies this fall. Parents of young children, many of whom delayed enrollment last year, anticipate spending $156 per child 鈥� a 32 percent increase over last school year.

What鈥檚 eating up much of their back-to-school spending? 鈥� a necessity some may have skipped last fall when many districts opened remotely.

One relief for families is that the increased costs come at the same time the majority of households with school-age children are receiving monthly of $250 to $300, approved as part of the relief bill.

鈥楥alm the markets鈥�

Some districts plan budgets to allow them to ride out periods like this. The Philadelphia district signs fixed contracts for expenses such as fuel, food services 鈥� and, of course, labor.

鈥淲e occasionally get criticized when we do long-term guaranteed pricing contracts,鈥� Monson said. 鈥淣o one is going to complain right now. This is exactly why we do it.鈥�

But he acknowledged that the soaring prices are hitting contractors hard as well as those waiting for supplies. 鈥淭he cost of wood and basic materials has been out of control,鈥� Monson said. And with shipping delays, he鈥檚 urging departments to allow longer lead times for deliveries. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really hard to order something on Friday and expect it to be there on Monday.鈥�

That鈥檚 because the most Americans experienced at the beginning of the pandemic haven鈥檛 really gone away.

鈥淭here are shipments from Asia that have been stuck at the Los Angeles port since October鈥� 鈥� mostly because of labor shortages, said Charlie Andrews, a senior cost manager with Rider Levett Bucknall, which advises school districts on construction costs and provides project management services.

When contractors face unforeseen costs, such as tariffs, they often pass those on to school systems.

Mary Filardo, executive director of the 21st Century School Fund 鈥� which advocates for modernizing school facilities 鈥� said cost fluctuations help make the case for Biden鈥檚 $100 school construction plan, a combination of direct grants and bonds. The proposal didn鈥檛 make it in the with Republicans, but is expected to re-emerge in the details of a Democrats have proposed.

鈥淒istricts need long money,鈥� Filardo said. 鈥淚t will calm the markets somewhat and give them more leverage as they plan and implement projects.鈥�

States have until Monday to distribute $81 billion in federal relief funds to districts 鈥� two-thirds of the total for K-12 schools in the American Rescue Plan. And while the law requires districts to put aside 20 percent of their funding to address learning loss, an early review of spending plans shows most aren鈥檛 adding tutoring programs, extending the school year or adopting other programs expected to help students catch up.

Instead, they are largely using the money to fill budget gaps, hire staff and issue 鈥渢hank you鈥� bonuses to teachers, Marguerite Roza, director of Georgetown University鈥檚 Edunomics Lab, said during a Tuesday webinar. Her team has consulted with district finance officials and reviewed school board documents and media reports.

鈥淭hat surprised us because tutoring is sort of the darling … for how to spend federal funds,鈥� Roza said Tuesday, referring to multiple studies in recent months about the effectiveness of 鈥渉igh-dosage鈥� tutoring programs.

Chad Aldeman, policy director at Edunomics Lab, added there鈥檚 little evidence so far of efforts to focus on the needs of the most vulnerable students. 鈥淭he pandemic has affected different students differently, and we鈥檙e seeing a lot of one-size-fits-all,鈥� he said. Facility improvements, he added, might be a smart use of one-time funds, but they don鈥檛 really help students most impacted by the pandemic.

The relief bill, passed in March, represents the largest-ever, one-time influx of federal funds for K-12, setting up a 鈥渇ast and furious鈥� planning process for districts over the next few months, Roza said. According to the law, districts have to submit spending plans to their states in August and provide updates or revisions every six months. They have until the end of September 2023 to spend the money. Meanwhile, leaders are facing heightened scrutiny from parents and advocacy groups looking to hold leaders accountable for helping students recover from months of remote learning. District spending plans must demonstrate that officials made extensive efforts to involve parents, educators and students.

鈥淭hat means districts can鈥檛 go into a dark, smoke-filled room and make a plan,鈥� she said, urging officials to be more transparent than usual about hiring staff, launching new programs and issuing contracts for services. Some superintendents, she said, are still operating under emergency powers, allowing them to sign off on expenditures without school board approval.

鈥楾hey can do better鈥�

The National Center for Youth Law, a nonprofit law firm based in Oakland, California, is among those closely tracking whether districts are spending the funds on students with the greatest need. On Tuesday, the organization joined with three other California groups to release of how 48 districts in the state planned to use relief funds from last year.

While there were some bright spots, the analysis showed plans often lacked detail, especially on how schools intended to respond to students with limited internet access, seek parent and community input, and target support to English learners, students in foster care and others likely to face the most earning disruption.

Vague descriptions of goals make it 鈥渉ard for folks to follow up, so at the end of the school year, they can ask, 鈥楬ow did it go?鈥欌�� said Atasi Uppal, an attorney focusing on juvenile justice and education at the firm. 鈥淲e want to give some grace to districts that were planning last September, but we also just think they can do better.鈥�

As districts in the state begin to develop plans for a combined $55 billion in state and one-time federal funds, the groups are calling for greater input from the public and offer a list of questions parents and others can use to seek details on programs and expenditures.

Roza and other school finance experts warn districts against using time-limited funds on raises, new staff and other recurring costs. But Ted Lempert, president of Children Now, one of the other California groups, added that schools in the state already have such large shortages of school counselors and nurses that it might be wise to increase staff. 鈥淭here is a need for a lot of extra support now,鈥� he said.

However, districts planning to hire may struggle to find enough qualified applicants, Aldeman said, based on labor market data showing districts have more job openings than they鈥檙e able to fill.

In Colorado, the Denver Public Schools tried to get a jump on the planning process by meeting with a budget advisory committee in December, even before the Biden administration took office and the relief bill passed. Those meetings 鈥� involving students, parents and union representatives 鈥� inspired a new $3 million to provide on-site mental health professionals at schools.

Chuck Carpenter, the district鈥檚 chief financial officer, said schools want to have 鈥渢he most welcoming and ready environments鈥� when students return in the fall. But the challenge is to avoid committing to new programs they won鈥檛 be able to sustain financially in the future. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a grant and you have to treat it like that,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here will be a time when it鈥檚 not there.鈥�

Meanwhile, not all states will meet the deadline to allocate funds to the local level. One possible complication is that they are holding onto the money at the state level as part of their annual budget process. And in some states, the legislature doesn鈥檛 approve the budget until the end of June. 鈥淚f that鈥檚 the case, then generally those funds can鈥檛 leave the state treasury to be liquidated 鈥� until the state鈥檚 budget has been enacted,鈥� explained Austin Reid, education committee director at the National Conference of State Legislatures.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, some states have alerted the department that they will miss Monday鈥檚 deadline as well as the June 7 deadline to submit a state plan for using relief funds. A department spokesperson did not offer specifics, but said, 鈥渟tates are providing updates on a regular basis.鈥�