With the U.S. Department of Education abruptly moving its spending deadline for pandemic relief funds, the state faces potentially losing $137 million in funds, including money already allocated to local districts.
For Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District, that includes less than 2% of the total $24.4 million earmarked for the district in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds.
Communications Director Haley Montgomery said the district would not be reimbursed for those funds.
“The outstanding funds were allocated primarily for direct student tutorial services to serve academic needs, including those for students qualified as homeless,” she said. “Those services have been halted. A small amount of our remaining ESSER funds were allocated for student mental health services.”
Montgomery said those services included free tutoring, counseling for students who qualify as homeless and their families who are transitioning between housing as well as services for families who found themselves displaced.
“For families who were in a transition, maybe they’ve had an eviction or something like that, we were able to provide a three-night hotel stay for the family,” she said.
The federal education department established ESSER to help public school districts address the impacts of the pandemic. The funding had to be spent within certain areas, like facility improvements, air quality improvements, education loss due to the pandemic, purchasing personal protective equipment and cleaning supplies, educational technology and mental health services, among others.
The federal funds were sent to the state departments of education, which allotted funding to local districts based on income of families in the district and the cost of education in the state. Districts spent the money up front and ESSER reimbursed costs for qualifying projects.
There were three rounds of funding, each with a deadline for spending the money, the last one being in December 2024. Extensions to the deadlines were allowed under special circumstances, like national supply chain issues.
The extensions gave school districts until March 2026 to spend the funds and still qualify for reimbursement. But then on March 28, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon sent a letter moving the new liquidation deadline to March 28.
“Extending deadlines for COVID-related grants, which are in fact taxpayer funds, years after the COVID pandemic ended is not consistent with the department’s priorities and thus not a worthwhile exercise of its discretion,” McMahon said in the letter.
In a response to McMahon, State Superintendent Lance Evans said many districts aren’t able to simply terminate contractual obligations without “significant financial, educational and legal consequences.”
“If funding is not restored, Mississippi school districts will be forced to default on payments to contractors and vendors that are currently under contract, which will result in litigation that will put additional burdens on school districts,” he said.
Lowndes County School District Public Information Officer Adam Minichino said the district is waiting to see what happens at the federal level before deciding how to cover the roughly $176,540 it has in remaining ESSER funds. He said that money is allocated for intercom and audio upgrades across the district.
Columbus Municipal School District is already fully reimbursed for its ESSER funds, Chief Financial Officer Holly Rogers told The Dispatch.
Montgomery said SOCSD intends to absorb the extra cost for the student mental health services covered by ESSER. Like the soon to be discontinued services for homeless students, the lion’s share of the district’s ESSER funding went toward projects aimed at making a long term impact that is still being seen, she said.
Funding went toward upgrading facilities and services aimed at stemming learning loss resulting from the pandemic. For two years, ESSER funding helped the district get its first intersessions off the ground.
“Most of (the projects) have come to fruition already, and we’ve been able to use those for our students,” she said. “But we wish we could also continue these last ones. It’s hard to plan for that, and then not be able to do it.”
SOCSD will continue to offer resources for students experiencing homelessness through its Project HELP program, like school uniforms, school supplies, personal hygiene supplies and tutoring.
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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