COVID relief for K-12 schools was misspent, but nobody seems to care
Jack Elbaum
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Disastrous National Assessment of Educational Progress test scores were released last week. The New York Times reports that the “last time math performance was this low for 13-year-olds was in 1990. In reading, 2004.”
A look at the major players in education reveals a dereliction of duty on every level.
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Let’s start at the top with Education Secretary Miguel Cardona. He released a statement claiming the Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan included “historic investments” in education that are crucial to “reverse the damage” caused by prolonged school closures.
However, the Washington Free Beacon reported that two-thirds of the billions allocated to schools to “reopen K-12 schools safely” and “equitably expand opportunities” was sent before schools had any plans in place. Consequently, mismanagement was inevitable, which was a common theme with all COVID-19 relief spending.
Once the money got to the schools, it only got worse. Today, that newspaper uncovered that “In school districts across the country … a large portion of those funds did not go to more tutoring or new school materials. Instead, they funded bonuses for teachers and administrators.”
The report continues, “In North Carolina, for example, the Wake County Public School System from March 2020 to April 2023 spent 78.5 percent of its total pandemic relief funding on salaries and employee benefits, according to the district. Chicago Public Schools—a district where union teachers repeatedly refused to return to the classroom during COVID—similarly spent 77 percent of its pandemic money on staff bonuses, salaries, and benefits. In Tennessee, meanwhile, the state’s comptroller found that a district funneled nearly $28,000 to one administrator alone.”
This was entirely predictable even in 2021 when there were reports schools were spending millions on new football fields, expansions for a “nature center,” and online learning platforms rather than, you know, education.
In other words, the Department of Education was careless with how it gave money to schools during the pandemic. Then, those schools, of course, used much of the money to act in their own staff’s interests rather than in the interest of students. This is not true of all schools or districts but certainly too many. It is a consequence of the fact too few education officials are serious about actual education, particularly educational outcomes.
Based on history, that this happened should be no surprise, which is all the more reason Cardona should have been acutely aware of how this money would be allocated. Over the past 50 years, test scores have risen less than 2%, but per-pupil spending (even after adjusting for inflation) has risen more than 245%. The reasons for this are numerous, but one of them is that much of the funding went toward new administrative positions — bureaucracy — rather than students themselves.
Most troubling of all is that so few people, particularly at the top of the education field, actually seem to be concerned with this. In many cases, these are the same people who thought it was an awesome idea to shut down schools for essentially a full year.
It should now be clearer than ever that major education reform is needed, and new leaders are crucial. The education establishment has failed children for far too long.
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Jack Elbaum is a summer 2023 Washington Examiner fellow.