Lorain Schools Board of Education receive updates on funds for wraparound services
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Lorain City Schools Board of Education members heard from Vicky Timko, federal programs and grants specialist for the district on June 26, who shared information about the Student Wellness and Success Funds (SWSF) program.
The program, implemented and funded through state dollars under a program created by Gov. Mike DeWine and the Ohio General Assembly, allocates hundreds of millions of tax dollars to nearly a 1,000 districts throughout the state.
The program also is considered to be part of the Future Forward initiative within the Ohio Department of Education which Timko said prioritizes the same goals as that of Lorain Schools in helping students to overcome obstacles to learning, to accelerate learning and to better prepare students for their future.
The funds go toward implementing services that support wraparound services for the students.
The wraparound services include such services as helping students build skills, or to fulfill a student or familial need, such as physical or mental health services.
Officials said $805 million was allocated to 991 districts and schools in Ohio, which also included $40 million allocated from coronavirus pandemic relief funding.
But, all the funding must be spent by June 30, 2025, officials said.
“The Ohio Department of Education encourages the districts and the schools to conduct a needs assessment in collaboration with community partners to plan for the utilization of the funding,” Timko said. “These assessments assist in determining needs and gaps in current services.
“We do family surveys. We’re constantly collecting data.”
Timko said the most frequent data sources looked at include such items as student attendance, positive behavioral interventions and student discipline data.
Of the Student Wellness and Success Funds funding, 50 percent must be used toward physical or mental health services, or some combination of both.
Timko pointed to the use of funds with the QUICKmed Urgent Care service and the YOUclinic available in Washington Elementary.
The school district also must develop a plan to utilize the funds in coordination with community mental health providers, and local drug and alcohol help services from a hospital agency or local nonprofit that works with children, she said.
The state education department also requires very detailed compliance information from the school district to show exactly how the taxpayer dollars are spent.
Timko reported that in Lorain Schools, those dollars went toward social worker salaries, family engagement events, nursing supplies and these contracted wraparound services.
She added that the district is on track to have the dollars spent by the 2025 deadline and will continue to provide updates to the Board of Education as to the programs and allocations.
This report was updated at 2:57 p.m. June 28 to correct the first name of Vicky Timko.
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