Why isn’t oversight required for public school federal aid spending?

Public schools’ ubiquitous “not enough money” refrains were quenched temporarily by post-COVID federal aid packages, totaling $26.4+ billion for the Golden State. However, only 1% of Californian school districts’ spending was monitored to confirm the cash was being invested in students (as opposed to plumping up administrators’ salaries). The California Policy Center’s Parent Union Ambassador Celeste Fiehler makes the case for transparent, accountable budgetary oversight for public schools receiving federal aid. To receive daily updates of new Opp Now stories, click here.

According to a scathing report issued by State Auditor Elaine Howle, the state is not ensuring school districts are reporting how they are spending their federal aid; is not monitoring which districts are likely to see their funding revoked for failing to meet deadlines or transparency standards; nor is it verifying that districts are spending the aid on permissible expenditures.

Just how little oversight are we talking about? According to the report, the state is monitoring fewer than 1% of districts.

The auditor’s report indicated schools may be spending significant amounts of this money on salaries. Chief Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction Mary Nicely rejected a suggestion to provide greater oversight to schools making high expenditures in the “other” category, where salary spending falls. There are numerous ways public schools could be spending this money to help students, from providing targeted education savings accounts that equip parents with money to supplement their child’s education in the areas most needed, to funding local learning pods for children to be educated in small-group, multi-grade settings outside the traditional classroom.

As a consequence of the state’s lack of oversight, the federal government could revoke $160 million of the initial aid schools have received, reducing the likelihood that California kids will receive the support they’re owed. The auditor stresses compliance will become even more important in the future, as the state receives the remainder of its federal allocations.

This article originally appeared in the California Policy Center. Read the whole thing here.

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