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Health, physical educators advocate for funding

Originally published March 18, 2019 in the Grand Haven Tribune.

By Krystle Wagner

A Grand Haven educator was among 150 health and physical educators from across the country to participate in Speak Out! Day.

Scott Przystas, a physical education teacher for Grand Haven Area Public Schools, visited Washington, D.C., last week to advocate for lawmakers to fund programs for health and physical education and professional development through the Title IV, Part A, Student Support, which is under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) that was passed in 2015. Read More

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PE Administrators Focus on ESSA Title IV Part A for Key Funding

With Additional $700 Million Available, Schools Feel Empowered to Add New Technology

With a significant budget increase to Title IV Part A of the Every Student Succeeds Act for the 2018-19 school year, educators will have more opportunities to fund the purchase of tools that will personalize PE for students.

Identified as the Student Support and Academic Enrichment grants program of ESSA, Title IV Part A provides funding for new programs that: Read More

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How Do Districts Plan to Use Their ESSA Block Grant Money?

Originally published June 17, 2018 in Education Week.

By Andrew Ujifusa

Many districts are about to get a big boost in funding for the most flexible piece of the Every Student Succeeds Act: the Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants, better known as Title IV of the law. The program just got a big, $700 million boost from fiscal 2017 to fiscal 2018, bringing its total funding to $1.1 billion. And it could get even more money next year, because the House appropriations subcommittee in control of federal education spending is seeking $1.2 billion for the program in new legislation. Read More

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More Than School Safety: What the Huge Hike for ESSA’s Block Grant Means

Originally published March 22, 2018 by Education Week.

By Alyson Klein

As part of a massive new spending bill, lawmakers are poised to provide $1.1 billion in aid that congressional aides say will help boost school safety and mental-health resources in the wake of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., last month.

The money is intended “to expand school-based mental health services and supports; for bullying prevention; and for professional development for personnel in crisis management and school-based violence prevention strategies,” according to a House fact sheet.

But the increase isn’t just good news for school safety and counseling programs. It also being cheered by everyone from advocates for music education to fans of dual enrollment programs. Read More

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District approves request for PE HRMs through ESSA funding

In her search for funding to add heart rate monitors to all eight of the Irving Independent School District’s middle schools, Sandi Cravens learned a valuable lesson: requests never made are rarely granted.

In January, Cravens, Irving ISD’s Health and Physical Education Coordinator, received $35,000 from the district’s Every Student Succeeds Act’s Title IV-A funding allocation to purchase sets of IHT Zone wrist heart rate monitors to be used across her district. If not for some quick thinking by a new administrator, Cravens might not have even made the request for ESSA funding.

“I was familiar already with Title IV but I didn’t pay too much attention to it because I assumed the money would go to another group of people in our district because that’s usually how it works,” she said.

That feeling dates back to the reality of the No Child Left Behind Act, where schools focused primarily on the core subjects of math, English, science and social studies, leaving little time and even fewer funds available for electives such as art, music and physical education. Read More