US Schools In Mad Dash To Spend COVID Cash As Deadline Looms

School districts across the country are in a mad dash to spend their remaining post-COVID relief grant money, or they have to return it to the US Treasury.

Kindergarteners wear masks while listening to their teacher amid the COVID-19 pandemic at Washington Elementary School in Lynwood, Calif., on Jan. 12, 2022. Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP Photo

The $122 billion program aimed at boosting learning recovery in the wake of the pandemic expires Sept. 30, leaving just 30 days.

According to Georgetown University’s Edunomics lab, which tracks how the American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds have been spent, nine districts have yet to submit more than $30 million of previously granted funds for reimbursement.

According to the Lab, most of the grant funds were spent on labor, including additional teachers, classroom aides, counselors, tutors, reading coaches, subject area specialists and administrators.

As the Epoch Times notes further, in an Aug. 30 email response to The Epoch Times, the U.S. Department of Education affirmed that it cannot extend the deadline for expenditure approvals past Sept. 30, and it will not allow them to transfer any leftover money to a “rainy day account.”

Districts can request additional time to spend down the money if the U.S. Department of Education approves the expenditure prior to Sept. 30. Liquidation extension requests are due Dec. 31.

The smallest of the nine districts on the $30 million plus unspent list, Syracuse city in New York, has used 68.4 percent of its allocation, or $74.45 million out of $108.86 million. The largest district, Clark County in Nevada (Las Vegas area), so far spent 95.4 percent of its ESSER money, or $1.15 billion out of $1.20 billion. Neither district replied to a request for comment from The Epoch Times.

Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) in Wisconsin has spent $570.22 million of its total $786.41 million allocation, or 72.5 percent, according to the Edunomics Lab.

All told, MPS spent its ESSER money on providing Chromebooks for students, upgrading athletic facilities, tutoring services, learning camps that took place when school wasn’t in session, mental health services, afterschool clubs, free sports physicals, and free drivers’ education classes, said Stephen Davis, MPS media relations manager, in an Aug. 30 email response to The Epoch Times.

As for the amount currently listed as unspent, he added, contracts and purchase orders for goods and services have been approved, so the district is authorized to make final payments on those items several months from now.

“MPS is on track to spend the entire budget,” he said.

Hillsborough County Public Schools in Florida received $766.23 million. The data indicate that 85.3 percent of that amount has been spent. Tanya Arja, district chief of communications, said $24 million of the remaining money has gone to charter schools whose expenditures don’t require authorization from the district office.

Arja said the district’s current unallocated amount, $19 million, will go toward curriculum, school supplies, and information technology improvements that are expected to be approved by both the Board of Education and the U.S. Department of Education in the coming weeks.

“This will ensure all district funds will be obligated by Sept. 30 and liquidated by November. We do not plan on sending anything back,” Arja said in an Aug. 30 email response to The Epoch Times.

The Dallas Independent School District (DISD) has spent $566.15 million of its $846.78 million total allocation, or 66.9 percent, according to the data. However, unlike the other districts with unspent money, DISD’s remaining balance is attributed not to the last phase of ESSER but to the first two phases: $12.41 million of $61.98 million for phase one, and $49.32 million of $241.73 million for the second phase.

DISD officials replied to The Epoch Times’ request for comment and, noting that a new chief financial officer is still onboarding, said further information will be provided at a later date.

The other districts with remaining balances above $30 million include Minneapolis, with 62 percent of $249.40 million; Newark, New Jersey, with 83.4 percent of $277.08 million; DeKalb County, Georgia, with 76.7 percent of $486.57 million; and Stockton, California, with 79.6 percent of $241.56 million. Representatives from those districts did not respond to The Epoch Times’s request for comment.

In the prior ESSER rounds, there were a small number of school districts that failed to spend their grants on time and had to return the money, according to a news release on the Edunomics Lab website. For the program’s last phase, a far greater amount of money is at stake, considering the rapidly approaching deadline.

“With one month left on this 42-month grant, many districts are cutting it close,” the news release said. “Is it worth spending ESSER down to the final penny? Depends on who you ask. Spending for the sake of spending can seem wasteful. Besides, isn’t $1,000 just a rounding error in a budget of millions?” it said.

“Then again, try telling a kindergarten teacher that you send the money back instead of replacing that dirty old circle-time rug that little Sophia threw up on last week. Or the PTA chair who spent countless hours getting the kids to sell chocolate to pay for honor roll prizes.”