School district CARES Act dollars continue to be utilized
Lee Schools to receive additional funds through second stimulus package; amount not yet known
Additional funding through the second stimulus package is coming, although it is unknown when or how much, Lee School District officials said this week.
Business Services Coordinator Sarah Cox said they have a second round of stimulus dollars coming, but the district has not heard any information from the state on when it will come or what it will look like. They have heard that it is going to be about four times the amount of funds they have received to date through CARES, she added.
“For example, (Elementary and Secondary Emergency Relief Fund), which we are referring to ESSER, 2.0 is anticipated to be about $75 million. How and when the state will release that information we really are not sure,” she said.
There has been talk that it may be used as gap funding, funding they may lose through the Florida Education Finance Program. Cox said they have also heard that they would be required to spend ESSER 1 dollars first, which would create some hurdles, especially with funds that the district does not have control over with charter and private schools.
In addition, she said with President Joe Biden’s proposed stimulus package there could possibly be a third round.
“We are very thankful for this money and we are trying to do our due diligence tracking and making sure we are spending the money in the best manners possible,” Cox said.
During Cox’s school board presentation Tuesday afternoon she explained that they review CARES Act dollars on a monthly basis internally to track and monitor their spending, so they can be prepared to make any adjustments needed while looking at the documents.
“I’m sure you all know that there has been a lot of scrutiny from the state level and in a way rightfully so. When you look at this document you can see that we have in Lee County, like many other districts, have spent little CARES Act dollars,” Cox said. “I can see from the state’s perspective of saying, ‘Hey districts, you have this influx of money and you haven’t spent it.”
The state gave the district very little time, a two- to four-week turnaround to submit applications for the grants.
“Any existing initiatives that we had going, with the exception of direct COVID expenses, we were not able to fund through any CARES Acts dollars, which led us to creating new initiatives to address some of the impacts that COVID has had on our district,” Cox said. “As you can imagine some of those take some time to get up and running.”
Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund and the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund and a small pot of money that the district received from Health & Human Services are some of the funding given under the CARES Act.
Cox said as of Tuesday there were two grants that were pending award, Data Informed Supports under ESSER and Prevention and Response under GEER.
“All of these have been coming in sporadically over the last six months,” she said. “We don’t receive the cash in advance, they are on a reimbursement basis.”
Cox said they felt in Lee County it was best to utilize and maximize funds over full two years rather than get one bang with their buck and spend it in one year.
The main ESSER grant is used for extended tutoring for high schools, additional 30 minutes for middle schools, adding tutoring in high school for credit retrieval programs and mental and psych services. So far 10.85 percent has been spent with a remaining balance of $20,175,593.42
With GEER said the biggest program is summer recovery grant, which received additional time to spend the funds through April 1. To date 63.52 percent has been spent, with a remaining balance of $1,215.051.47.
“A lot of districts had money left over, so we have invested it into extended learning opportunities and look for it to be our first CARES Act grant closing in April,” Cox said.
HEERF, which primary source is for post secondary schools, with dedicated amount of money being used for student financial aid. The district has utilized 47.47 percent of the grant, leaving $519,169.22.
The last piece is funds from Health & Human Services, which was specifically to be spent on PPE, or other health related services due to COVID.
“We have subsequently spent this money,” Cox said of the $20,806.72.
To reach MEGHAN BRADBURY, please email news@breezenewspapers.com