Written by Amanda Angulo
The state has provided an additional $4.6 billion in funding for summer school sessions in order to regain and improve from the learning loss. This allows for some districts to increase their summer funding by tenfold. However, the subsidy may not be the same throughout all schools in California. Some will be offered for the first time in years and others will only be able to offer it to some students. One of the issues about this has been staffing. Many schools and districts have been unable to fulfill positions for the summer, despite additional financial incentives.
The two largest school districts in California, the Los Angeles and San Diego Unified, are offering in-person summer school sessions to all of their students. Some schools in Los Angeles have been able to fill them up, with accommodations still being worked on. As for the San Diego Unified School District, over 22,000 students of 98,000 have enrolled for their summer session. The summer before the pandemic, less than 3,000 students would enroll in summer school, according to Nicole DeWitt, an instructional support officer at the district.
While the increase in numbers shows a record in summer school enrollments, what could this mean during the end of a pandemic? This means that the $4.6 billion will be used mostly for teacher pay. Wages have to be higher in the summer in order to encourage teachers to continue teaching after a whole year, yet many schools are struggling to fill in positions. Districts also need to ensure that precautions are also being taken and that class sizes remain in small numbers, resulting in the need for more teachers.
