The Department of Education (DOE) has shifted all future spending related to the $4.4 billion in remaining COVID-19 school relief funds to a reimbursement structure after identifying massive waste, fraud, and abuse — including hundreds of thousands spent to rent out an MLB stadium and tens of thousands spent on casino hotel rooms.
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) stated on Wednesday that schools have already spent nearly $200 billion of the relief funds under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations (CRRSA) Act, and the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act with “little oversight or impact on students”:
“There is $4B left and the new @usedgov is setting a simple new rule – all grantees must provide receipts for every purchase BEFORE funding is released,” the DOGE, led by tech mogul Elon Musk, added in an X post.
A news release from the DOE stated that the new policy is “in line with President Trump’s commitment to increased transparency and accountability regarding federal expenditures.”
“Beginning today, all future payments under the CARES Act, CRRSA Act, and ARP Act spent on allowable expenditures must be paid by the states in advance and then submitted to the U.S. Department of Education for reimbursement,” the department, currently being led by Acting Sec. Denise L. Carter, stated.
Prior to the rule change, states were able to spend the money without proving that they were being “used for authorized purposes,” the release said. “The Department is changing the requirements to ensure taxpayer funds are expended responsibly, and will require states to keep the receipts to confirm this.”
According to Parents Defending Education, a nonprofit group cited by the DOGE in its announcement, Santa Ana Unified School District in California spent $393,000 in COVID relief funds to rent out the Los Angeles Angels Baseball in 2021, and Granite Public Schools in Utah spent roughly $86,000 in relief funds at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas for teams from 14 schools to attend a conference.
In one of the most staggering examples of relief fund abuse, the Whitewater, Wisconsin, school board allocated 80 percent of its $2 million Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) grant to installing new synthetic turf fields.
“When asked why the funds should be used for athletic fields instead of educational projects, Whitewater High School Athletic Director Justin Crandall told the school board that he did not envision the district as one ‘that would go to a referendum for turf fields,'” Parents Defending Education stated. “Rather than put Crandall’s theory to the test, the school board decided instead to bill the American people for the projects.”