CAAL is Encouraged by Walz-Flanagan Administration’s Use of American Rescue Plan Funds to Support Education

For Immediate Release  
July 1, 2021

Contact
Julia Gay | julia@caalmn.org | (216) 744-4956

St. Paul, MN – CAAL is encouraged by the latest announcement from the Walz-Flanagan Administration of their plan to use American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding for education. Among their plans are using ARP investments to meet the needs of students of color and English Language Learners.

“As an organization that centers those made vulnerable, we have continuously asked for support to build resilient systems to ensure students from our diverse ethnic groups, students from low-income homes, and English language learners are not left out or left behind. We applaud this investment,” says Bo Thao-Urabe, Executive and Network Director of CAAL. 

ARP funding includes $1.3 billion for E-12 education through the Elementary & Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund III (ESSER III) for Minnesota to help schools open safely to in-person learning for all students. The Administration will use $66 million towards learning loss, divided among schools depending on the number of historically underserved students of color and English Learners. Other investments include $6 million to the EdFi system, $3 million to support schools in anti-bias and trauma-informed training and $2 million for mentoring new teachers of color. 

Earlier this spring, CAAL authored a letter signed by 17 organizations with recommendations to State and Local Officials on how to use the American Rescue Plan to address the needs of Asian Americans and build up resilient infrastructure for a more prosperous future, and have since continued to work with our community urging investments using ARP funding to further the implementation of data disaggregation systems, ethnic studies, heritage language programs and anti-racism training.

Michelle Chang, CAAL’s Lead Organizer on Education Policy, comments, “We led efforts to pass the 2016 All Kids Count Act and its implementation has been slow. The fact remains that our education system must collect more nuanced data so that we can understand our students’ assets and needs, especially after two school years where students faced layered and painful interruptions to their education. Many of our students are misrepresented by the aggregate data, so we are pleased that Governor Walz is investing in the EdFi system to ensure data disaggregation is not only an intention but the law can be fully implemented in every school district in Minnesota.”

Michelle Chang further says, “This historic investment of ARP funding is important to the current and future of our students who are Minnesota’s future workforce. We urge community members to monitor ARP funding use and continue engaging with Governor Walz and Lt. Governor Flanagan to ensure relief dollars are invested in Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and Asian students, families and educators.”

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About Coalition of Asian American Leaders: 

The Coalition of Asian American Leaders (CAAL) envisions a State where all Minnesotans, regardless of background, are actively engaged and can achieve prosperity. Our mission is to harness our collective power to improve community lives by connecting, learning, and acting together. To learn more, please visit www.caalmn.org.