The NDE approved allocation of emergency relief funds

The Nevada Department of Education has approved the allocation of funds through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief program.

A total of $8 million will be allocated to public school educators at all levels, kindergarten through 12th grade. The funds will be used for classroom resources for the teachers and students. These funds will be distributed through DonorsChoose, which is a nonprofit crowdfunding website. Each educator can receive up to $800 in funding to help support their students.

All school employees who spend the majority of their time directly educating or counseling students are eligible for the funds to create a project. The projects will be funded within one week of being posted. Projects will be funded on a first-come, first-served basis starting Sept. 29.

“Nevada’s educators are some of the finest in the nation and have risen to the occasion again and again throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to support our students, families, and school communities,” said Governor Steve Sisolak. “In this moment more than ever, they deserve our support and admiration, and I am proud that we will be able to provide Nevada’s educators with resources to fund their classroom projects.”

DonorsChoose will be making sure that all requests for instructional materials line up with the Nevada Academic Content Standards. Any non-instruction item requests will need to be approved by DonorsChoose to make sure that the project relates to a priority area for Nevada’s COVID-19 recovery and response.

Several areas are included: safe and healthy in-person learning environments conducive to students’ social, emotional and academic development; access to distance education and technological capacity for teachers, students and families; social and emotional support of students in response to the effects of COVID-19; or support of parents, families and communities.

“Our educators are best suited to identify the specific needs in their own classrooms,” said Jhone Ebert, state superintendent of public instruction. “With the implementation of the Pupil-Centered Funding Plan and other key investments recently made in education, we are optimistic about the long-term impact on our classrooms statewide. With this $8 million emergency funding allocation and innovative partnership with DonorsChoose, we are thrilled to be able to get resources directly and immediately to our educators and students.”

Since 2000, more than 7,800 Nevada teachers have raised over $13 million for projects to help them in the classrooms. In addition to the District Partnership Program, this collaboration between the NDE and DonorsChoose will expand the support for educators across the state.

Educators can learn more about creating their DonorsChoose projects by visiting the Help Center at https://help.donorschoose.org

Contact Danny Smyth at dsmyth@pvtimes.com