NORFOLK, Va. — This summer break hasn't meant more downtime for tutors across Hampton Roads.
This year, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin unveiled a $30 million tutoring grant effort, announced this March as an initiative to help combat learning loss from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Students who applied and were accepted received $1,500 toward tutoring services, which could be used for private, virtual and/or group sessions. Lower-income families, meant for families whose income was verified at 300% or less than the federal poverty line, were eligible for $3,000.
The grant funding, operated through a company with a national framework called ClassWallet, allowed families who may not have been able to afford tutoring before on their own a chance to seek out tutoring services, both through independent or large-scale vendors.
In the case of Virginia Beach tutor Vanessa Dettrie, students who were not already incoming clients were able to seek her out through the state's approved vendor list.
“They reached out to me because they said, 'This is wonderful because now we can afford to pay someone to help us in the areas we cannot meet her needs," said Dettrie, who has roughly a dozen students utilizing the grant program funding.
For Kim Teixeira, who oversees two Sylvan-franchised learning centers, more than 200 kids are utilizing the program.
"Families were truly seeking resources to help their children, but under budgetary constraint. When having excess funds, now they’re calling saying 'We have the funds,'" she said.
Across Hampton Roads' seven localities, there are more than 400 tutoring vendors approved by the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE).
According to a spokesperson for the governor's office, the state government allocated an additional $30 million through the GEER fund to meet demand.
A spokesperson for VDOE wrote to 13News Now: "Grants have been distributed to approximately 15,000 students so far with an additional distribution to 15,000 more students expected within the next two weeks."
13News Now contacted more than 100 tutors from the department's approved vendor list. Those that replied balanced the positivity and effectiveness of the program while noting concerns about its execution and rollout.
'Hiccups in the beginning, but we saw it working'
In early July, VDOE staff acknowledged to a Richmond television news outlet that the setup of the funds was originally established in a way that was deemed "noncompliant," leaving some parents with questions about how to properly access and use the grant funding.
Under the grant's parameters, tutoring sessions must be administered before the vendors are paid on a reimbursement basis. The process, which is then initiated by an uploaded invoice directly from client parents, resulted in some tutors waiting weeks without seeing pay for their services.
"The expectation seemed to be that we would get paid in a couple weeks, but that hasn’t been the case. That’s been the biggest drawbacks for the tutors," Dettrie said.
"I'm running anywhere between 4-6 weeks before I'm getting paid," she added.
Teixeira noted that invoices spanning from mid-May through all of June went undelivered and unpaid before funds were eventually deposited in early July. While Teixeira said the approval process has gotten smoother and more consistent in recent weeks, she acknowledged that the delay might put other tutors in tougher financial positions.
"Anything worth its time, or energy is going to take time to work through the hiccups," she said.
One tutor wrote on July 19: "Last week I only received payment on four invoices, and I had no new payments by Tuesday of this week. This morning, I received payment on eighteen invoices. I have now been paid through June with the exception of two invoices. The inconsistency of payment continues to be a problem."
Another tutor wrote on July 18 but wished to remain anonymous: "Businesses can not function having to wait more than a month before payments are received."
Tutors have acknowledged an improvement in the speed and consistency of invoice approvals in recent weeks.
A statement from a DOE spokesperson reads: "The Department has resolved the individual reimbursement issues and tutor approvals. This process has become much smoother and is now providing a tremendous benefit to thousands of students..."
Worries over communication with Virginia education officials
Vendors have also brought up issues over communications with VDOE staff, in attempts to get answers to questions about the program and payments.
“I had not gotten anything in terms of an email saying 'Hey vendor, we just increased the amount by $30 million.' I only learned about that by watching through the news," Teixeira said.
The email from the tutor who wished to remain anonymous on July 18, added: "There is no customer service contact for questions that vendors have. No one is responding to emails, and when you call ClassWallet, the customer service reps don't know anything about the VA-K12 grant."
"I just don't even bother calling the liaison [service]," Dettrie said.
As of August, applications for grant funding have reached maximum capacity: "VDOE has received the maximum number of applications for K-12 Learning Acceleration Grants the department is able to process at the program’s current funding level. Additional applications for grants will be accepted if more funds become available for the program."
Overall, many of the tutors who shared their thoughts on the program highlighted the benefit of adding support for students across the Commonwealth.