Time's Up! The End of ESSER Funding and the Future of Illinois School Districts

<p>Executive Summary</p> <p>The federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) program delivered $200 billion nationally between 2020-2025, including $7.8 billion for Illinois, to stabilize school operations during COVID-19, address learning loss, expand digital access, support student mental health, reduce class sizes, and sustain critical staffing. The expiration of this funding marks a pivotal turning point in K–12 education finance. Districts serving low-income students relied heavily on ESSER to launch and scale tutoring programs, extended learning opportunities, counseling services, and literacy initiatives that helped narrow post-pandemic achievement gaps. These districts now face mounting fiscal pressures that threaten to reverse hard-won gains. This Policy Brief examines ESSER’s sunset impact on the 2025–2026 school year and identifies state policy options to sustain its most effective interventions.</p> <p>What did Illinois districts spend ESSER funding on, and what progress was made?</p> <p>ESSER funds in Illinois have primarily been directed toward five focal areas (Illinois State Board of Education, 2025):</p> <ul> <li>&nbsp; &nbsp; Expanding tutoring and intervention programs to address learning loss</li> <li>&nbsp; &nbsp; Investing in technology and broadband access for remote learning</li> <li>&nbsp; &nbsp; Enhancing mental health and social-emotional support services</li> <li>&nbsp; &nbsp; Hiring additional staff and reducing class sizes</li> <li>&nbsp; &nbsp; Implementing COVID-19 safety protocols in school buildings&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;</li> </ul> <p>While comprehensive impact evaluation continues, available data show positive relationships between ESSER investment and student outcomes. Illinois districts allocating approximately 45% of ESSER funds to staffing maintained higher math and reading achievement on IAR and SAT assessments during the pandemic, while districts investing only 3% in staffing experienced larger achievement declines and slower recovery (Cashdollar et al., 2024).</p> <p>Chicago Public Schools exemplifies these patterns. Serving 17% of Illinois students (90% students of color, 71% low-income), CPS experienced larger pandemic-related achievement declines than the state average but demonstrated faster recovery rates in both IAR reading and math (Barragan Torres et al., 2024).</p> <p>What are the implications?</p> <p>With ESSER funding expired and Illinois facing budget challenges, districts that expanded tutoring, hired counselors and social workers, and reduced class sizes with federal dollars are now scaling back (ISBE, 2024). In turn, many districts expect larger class sizes, with many anticipating hiring delays or position losses (Smylie, 2025). Education stakeholders are watching how these changes affect student outcomes, especially for populations that benefited most from expanded services (FutureEd, 2024).</p>