NEA President Becky Pringle spoke to media members alongside SPFE member Nicki Nolen before the “walk-in” at Adams Spanish Immersion school.
During the previous three school years, Nicki Nolen worked as Adams Spanish Immersion Elementary School’s reading support teacher. She spent school days dropping into kindergarten, first- and second-grade classrooms, where she led small, guided reading groups tailored to meet students’ individual needs.
Every elementary school in the St. Paul Public Schools had a reading support teacher like Nolen – until this year, when the federal pandemic-relief program that funded the position, known as ESSER, expired.
“This year I’ve had families coming to me in the hallway and saying, ‘Oh, you’re not a reading teacher anymore, what happened?’” Nolen, now a first-grade teacher at Adams, said. “And I have to say that the funding was cut.”
In a show of unity on Sept. 30 – the ESSER program’s official expiration date – St. Paul educators, school administrators, union leaders and lawmakers held two events to raise awareness of the impact the loss of funding will have on students and families.
“What will end are after-school programs,” National Education Association President Becky Pringle said. “What will end are successful literacy programs. What will end is that one-to-one attention that our students need. What will end is making sure we have counselors and mental health services.”
Pringle, who leads the nation’s largest labor union, joined a “walk-in” event at Adams before the start of the school day, one of several staged by members of the St. Paul Federation of Educators at their school buildings Sept. 30. Similar events took place in 17 other states, Pringle said.
SPPS received approximately $207 million in ESSER funds as part of the 2021 American Rescue Plan (ARP). Among other things, the district used the money to expand arts and after-school programming.
It also went toward the literacy program that brought Nolen and other reading teachers into the classroom, known as What I Need Now (WINN). Due to its success, the district allocated $7 million this year to keep some WINN programming in place, but it came at the expense of other district offerings.
And WINN didn’t survive at many elementary schools, including Adams.
“COVID funds gave SPPS the opportunity to focus on what students actually need to be successful learners,” Nolen said. “Students, parents and educators all saw our students improve. The loss of these funds will be devastating for our community.”
Pringle said the NEA has been working in partnership with the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools to track and evaluate the effectiveness of local initiatives funded by ESSER, like St. Paul’s literacy program.
“This is actually working,” Pringle said. “We have evidence that we are closing those reading gaps, we have the evidence that students are doing better, that their social, emotional and academic learning is increasing… We need to make sure that we have this funding permanent.”
Later in the afternoon, Pringle joined a press conference with school board members, educators and U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, who said the COVID aid provided a glimpse of the gains schools could make with fully funded Title I and IDEA programs, federal supports for low-income students and students with disabilities, respectively.
The 4th District representative has co-sponsored the Keep Our PACT Act to put the federal government on a 10-year path to full funding for both programs.
“As a former teacher, I understand the importance – as well as the challenges – of ensuring that every child receives a great education,” McCollum said. “We must fulfill our commitment to our nation’s youth, no matter their abilities, skin color, zip code or background.”
– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor