53 Dept. of Education Employees Brace for Layoffs Amid ARPA Fund Exhaustion

Education Commissioner Dr. Dionne Wells-Hedrington confirms that with the expiration of American Rescue Plan Act funding on September 30, the Department lacks local budget capacity to retain 53 employees hired under ARPA

Fifty-three individuals currently employed by the V.I. Department of Education are at risk of being made redundant as funding from the American Rescue Plan Act expires on September 30th.‌ This information was confirmed by Education Commissioner Dr. Dionne Wells-Hedrington, who testified before the Committee on Education and Workforce Development on Monday.

“There were some positions that were created under the ARPA funding. Once that funding source is gone, we do not have the capacity to sustain them on the local budget,” she explained. There are currently 113 VIDE staffers who have either been moved under the umbrella of ARPA funds, or were hired using the federal funding.

“We looked for possible vacancies that we could slide people into,” the commissioner said. “We've moved as many as we can over onto the local budget.” Among the 113 individuals were 53 “long-time employees that were initially hired on the general fund.” Priority was therefore given to shift them over to getting paid from the general fund once more. “A lot of our vacancies went to ensure that those individuals remain employed,” VIDE explained.