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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah teachers looking to fund education initiatives or secure personal protective equipment for their classrooms received good news Tuesday.
The Utah State Board of Education is partnering with DonorsChoose, a nonprofit crowdfunding website, to give up to $12 million in COVID-19 relief funds to help K-12 public school educators get classroom resources for the school year.
The collaboration is the largest of its kind, to date, in the U.S. and will provide Utah educators with up to $1,000 in funding for their projects. The $12 million is part of the elementary and secondary school emergency relief fund in Utah's federal COVID-19 relief package.
DonorsChoose is providing the platform for teachers to apply for funds, as well as the procurement of materials requested by teachers.
"A teacher gets to go in, create their project, select the different supply and materials they need and then DonorsChoose actually then procures those materials and ships them directly to the school," Sarah Young, chief of staff at the Utah State Board of Education, said.
"We're so grateful to collaborate with the Utah State Board of Education in such an innovative way to empower its educators and students during a critical time," said Charles Best, founder of DonorsChoose, in a news release Tuesday. "These grants are an investment in the frontline wisdom of Utah's educators that we know will help students across the state continue to go strong this school year and beyond."
Board member Molly Hart had been looking for a way to ensure that the needs of teachers in the classroom could be met directly with COVID-19 relief support money, and the partnership made that a reality.
"Utah's educators are some of the finest in the country and I was so inspired to witness firsthand how they continued to sacrifice and show up for their students throughout the COVID-19 pandemic," Hart said in the news release. "In this moment more than ever, they deserve our support and appreciation, and I am proud that we as the board are able to provide Utah's educators with resources to fund what their classrooms need most right now."
Hart presented her proposal in both the November and December board meetings and the decision was easy.
"It was voted on and supported unanimously by our (Utah) State Board of Education members as a way that Utah should be using our COVID-19 relief funding," Young said.
Projects that will get this funding will have to be specific to COVID-19-related classroom needs, Young said.
"Let's say a teacher has recognized that students need additional support in terms of building their reading and their literacy skills. In order to do that, she wants to make sure that each individual student, instead of just having access to a classroom copy, actually gets to take some of those books home to be able to use outside of the classroom to help enhance those learning opportunities," she said. "This would be a great way to get that project sponsored."
As part of the partnership, DonorsChoose will ensure requests for instructional materials align with the Utah Core Standards. Along with specific educational needs, teachers can also apply for noninstructional items, such as personal protective equipment.
Young said that teachers could apply for noninstructional materials if there were "individual teachers who needed access to additional personal protective equipment, such as hand sanitizer or cleaning supplies, that they feel like makes their classroom a safer place for students to come and receive face-to-face instruction."
"All of those items are definitely allowable and supported with this particular project," she added.
Any Utah full-time equivalent K-12 public school employee who spends the majority of their time directly educating or counseling students is eligible to create a project. Eligible projects are anticipated to be funded within one week of posting. Projects will be funded up to $1,000 in total costs for student-focused resources.
A quick search for "Utah" on the DonorsChoose website brought up a myriad of different projects around the state. An example of one such project is at Riley Elementary School in Salt Lake, where a teacher is asking for donations for noise-canceling headphones, as students work on language arts skills on the computer for 30 minutes every day, as well as healthy snacks for students.
"The pandemic — although starting back in 2020 — isn't over," Young said. "We recognize that the needs of our students and our teachers in responding to the pandemic continue to this very day. This project creates an opportunity for teachers to specifically ask for and receive the supplies they need to meet the needs of their kids directly in the classroom without having to draw from their own pockets."
The board will begin funding eligible requests on a first-come, first-served basis beginning Tuesday, and for as long as funding is available.
"The Utah State Board of Education is incredibly excited to provide this opportunity direct to our teachers and really feel it's the best use of funds for this $12 million in federal relief," Young said.
Additionally, individuals, community partners and businesses looking to support K-12 education can provide additional support by visiting the DonorsChoose website.
Educators can learn how to create an eligible project here.
