The Nashville-based Beacon Center of Tennessee revealed federal pandemic funds meant for schools to “support students’ social-emotional well-being and academic achievement” were misused this year throughout the Volunteer State.
A total of $3.5 billion in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds were given throughout the pandemic to Tennessee school districts, according to the Beacon Center, for the purpose of addressing “learning loss and the safe return to in-person learning following COVID.”
In its annual Pork Report, published on Wednesday, the think tank revealed that “some school districts chose to disregard their internal policies around how to appropriate relief funds, with unauthorized bonuses going to positions that have nothing to do with teaching children, such as directors and administrators.”
In addition, the think tank pointed out that as of September, less than 62 percent of the $3.5 billion of the funds – which expire next year – were spent.
“These billions are supposed to go towards helping students whose learning was severely disrupted by the pandemic, but it seems more of the focus was on districts’ wishlists and bonuses,” the Beacon Center wrote in its Pork Report.
The think tank added that the school districts that used ESSER funds to grow their payroll despite enrollment declines that will likely cause an increase in local taxes, as “taxpayers will likely be called on to continue to fund [the schools] at similar levels once federal relief expires.”
“While just over half of the relief funds have already been spent, Tennessee policymakers can play a role in making past and future ESSER spending more accessible with live, online information like dozens of other states already do,” the Beacon Center said in its Pork Report. “While taxpayers should be upset with how some of this money was spent, a legislative committee should look at ESSER spending to gather more data on how much of these relief funds were really spent on education-related purposes and if there was a significant impact on student achievement.”
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
