Bethlehem School District to receive $3.46 million in state funding

The Bethlehem School District will receive a $3.46 million increase in state funding this school year, including $1.6 million in Level Up support.

To highlight plans and resources available for a safe return to school this fall, Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Education, Dr. Noe Ortega, joined U.S. Department of Education Secretary Dr. Miguel Cardona Tuesday on a tour of Bethlehem’s Donegan Elementary School, and Northampton Community College, where they met with students, staff and educators.

While at Donegan Elementary School, Ortega highlighted a $416 million increase in state education funding, including the new Level Up initiative that provides $100 million for some of the most underfunded school districts in Pennsylvania.

In April, Secretary Cardona visited Philadelphia area schools and commended the Pennsylvania Department of Education on the Wolf administration’s special initiative that vaccinated more than 112,500 teachers and staff in three weeks. The administration supports efforts to vaccinate eligible students aged 12 and up across the commonwealth.

The secretaries’ visit comes after the approval of Pennsylvania’s American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ARP ESSER) plan to use the remaining $1.6 billion in one-time, emergency federal relief to support the long-term work of education recovery.

At the end of March, the Wolf Administration announced nearly $5 billion in ARP ESSER federal COVID-19 relief for Pre-K-12 schools. These funds will bolster schools and districts to return to in-person instruction.

Each district will receive an amount proportional to the federal Title I-A funds received in 2020 under the Every Student Succeeds Act. Schools must use at least 20% of the money to address learning loss and the social, emotional and academic needs of underrepresented students, including those from low-income families, students with disabilities, English learners, migrant students, students experiencing homelessness and children in foster care.

Last week, the USDE released its Return to School Roadmap to support communities preparing for the new school year. Throughout the 2020-21 school year, PDE regularly provided technical assistance and guidance to Local Education Agencies (LEAs) to support instruction while navigating the pandemic. This includes PDE’s online resource, the Roadmap for Educational Leaders.

PDE will continue to support LEAs as they navigate the upcoming school year through the latest chapter of PDE’s Roadmap for Education Leaders; Accelerated Learning through an Integrated System of Support. This toolkit features a professional learning series for school leaders and educators to help address students’ learning loss, social emotional learning, and other issues caused by the pandemic.