This month marks the Coalition to Advance Future Student Success’ two-year anniversary. The Coalition brings together 12 leading education organizations that represent leaders from practitioners in the classroom to the state capitol working together to ensure this moment of transformation brings about greater equity and outcomes for all students. Guided by the Framework to Drive Support and Consistence Guidance, the Coalition is working to support its members in investing federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds to transform the U.S. education system.
This two-part blog series highlights each of the national organizations and some of the many impactful ESSER funding examples from across the Coalition. You can read Part 2 here.
AASA, The School Superintendents Association
AASA, The School Superintendents Association advocates for equitable access for all students to the highest quality public education and develops and supports school system leaders. AASA is the premier association for school system leaders and serves as the national voice for public education and district leadership on Capitol Hill. A professional community of more than 10,000 educational leaders, AASA and its members are committed to providing high-quality public education to all students. AASA develops and supports school system leaders through the national exchange of ideas; access to professional learning, publications and resources; and opportunities to champion initiatives to help transform the future of public education.
The resource Addressing Student and Staff Health with COVID Relief Funding provides guidance and offers concrete steps school districts can take to make data-informed decisions about investing COVID-19 relief funding. In addition to detailing how local education agencies can use ESSER funds for capacity-building and infrastructure, this guidance document highlights sustainable funding streams, such as Medicaid, that can be leveraged to ensure the efforts initiated with federal COVID-19 relief funds are continued.
In this video, AASA’s Executive Director David Schuler discusses how the Coalition is a “critical lynchpin” in striving for excellence in supporting students and schools.
American Federation of Teachers
The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is a union of professionals that champions fairness, democracy, economic opportunity and high-quality public education, health care and public services for students, their families and communities. It is committed to advancing these principles through community engagement, organizing, collective bargaining and political activism, and especially through the work its members do.
Here the AFT shares the accomplishments and success stories from its affiliates, showing how COVID relief funds have been used to support the educator workforce and the students they teach.
AFT President Randi Weingarten calls this unprecedented funding an “absolute lifeline.” In this video, Weingarten shares how being a member of the Coalition helped to determine common values and organize spending.
Chiefs for Change
Chiefs for Change is a bipartisan network of state and district education leaders who collectively advocate for policies and practices that make a difference for students and work to develop the next generation of bold future chiefs.
A Work in Progress: How Covid Aid is Helping Schools Recover and the Need for Sustained Federal Support describes persistent challenges and calls on policymakers to support measures for fiscal year 2024 that would strengthen educational opportunities overall and allow K-12 systems to continue impactful COVID recovery work.
Robert Runcie, the interim leader of Chiefs for Change, highlights the advantages of being a member of the Coalition in this video. He says the Coalition provides an opportunity for members to exchange ideas and collaborate on solutions to support student learning and wellbeing.
Council of Chief State School Officers
The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) is a nonpartisan, nationwide, nonprofit organization of public officials who head departments of elementary and secondary education in the states, the District of Columbia, the Department of Defense Education Activity, the Bureau of Indian Education and the five U.S. extra-state jurisdictions. As an organization, it is committed to ensuring that all students participating in the public education system — regardless of background — graduate prepared for college, careers and life. To realize this, CCSSO brings together dedicated leaders and exceptional ideas to achieve measurable progress for every student.
CCSSO launched the COVID Relief Data Project to research and analyze how states are using nearly $190 billion appropriated across three rounds of ESSER funding, including the approximately $19 billion in state set-aside funds allocated to address statewide needs. Learn more at https://ccsso.org/ESSERfunds.
CCSSO Chief Executive Officer Carissa Moffat Miller explains in this video how the Coalition has helped her organization improve its support to state chiefs and provided great examples of ESSER investments benefiting students and teachers across the country.
Council of the Great City Schools
The Council of the Great City Schools (CGCS) brings together 78 of the nation’s largest urban public school systems in a coalition dedicated to the improvement of education for children in the inner cities. The Council and its member school districts work to help schoolchildren meet the highest standards and become successful and productive members of society. Since the organization’s founding in 1956, geographic, ethnic, language and cultural diversity have typified the Council’s membership. That diversity propels the coalition forward to see that all citizens receive an education that will equip them with the skills and knowledge to compete successfully in the world marketplace and to enhance the quality of their lives in a society changing with phenomenal speed. The wellspring of accomplishments and innovations rising from inner cities testifies to the resounding benefits of investment in the nation’s urban centers and in their public schools.
CGCS’s member district Minnesota’s Saint Paul Public Schools received approximately $207 million in federal relief funds to be used over three years. The funds were invested in several strategies and initiatives, and after the first full year of spending, the district is starting to see results. Find out more here.
In this video, Council of the Great City Schools Executive Director Ray Hart says the organization has benefitted from being a member of the Coalition through sharing resources, best practices and problem-solving with education leaders from member organizations. Hart appreciates the opportunity to highlight the successful investments urban public schools have made to help their students recover from the pandemic.
National Association of Elementary School Principals
The National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) is a professional organization serving elementary and middle school principals and other education leaders throughout the United States, Canada and overseas. Its mission is to lead in the advocacy and support for elementary and middle-level principals and other education leaders in their commitment for all children. NAESP advocates for principals and provides high-quality professional learning and resources aligned to leadership standards, supports school leaders in providing students a well-founded and complete education and strengthens the principal pipeline through mentor training and support.
Administrators share their biggest challenges of staffing shortages and game-changing solutions to address a shrinking educator pipeline in this article, “Game-Changing Solutions to Staff Shortages.”
Next week, “Coalition Perspectives” will highlight the remaining member organizations of the Coalition to Advance Future Student Success: National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE), The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), The National Education Association (NEA), National Governors Association (NGA) and The National School Boards Association.
For more information about the Coalition to Advance Future Success, visit our website. Resources, including multimedia offerings and archived issues of the Coalition in Action newsletter are available. To read the most recent stories of the impact ESSER dollars are having in public schools, subscribe to the monthly Coalition in Action newsletter.
