Utah State Board of Education reports COVID-relief funds largely obligated; staff pursuing late-liquidation and capturing lessons learned

At a study session of the Utah State Board of Education, Deputy Superintendent of Operations Scott Jones told members the board is "fiscally sound" and staff provided a quarterly update on COVID-related relief funding and the monthly budget report.

The update, led by Jessica Care, CARES education specialist at the Utah State Board of Education, summarized federal grants under the CARES/ESSER/ARP umbrella, how those funds were distributed to local education agencies (LEAs), current drawdown rates, and deadlines for spending. Care said 100% of Utah K‑12 COVID relief funds are obligated.

Why it matters: large federal awards have required reporting and spending deadlines that affect how districts use one-time funding for accelerated learning, summer and afterschool programs, and other pandemic recovery efforts. Staff warned that some program-specific funds must be spent by Sept. 30 and said the state will seek U.S. Department of Education approval for late liquidation to give districts more time.

Scott Jones, deputy superintendent of operations at the Utah State Board of Education, told the board that the monthly budget report and discretionary fund updates are in the meeting backups and that the agency is meeting its obligations. "I attest that the Utah State Board of Education is fiscally sound," Jones said.

Jessica Care walked board members through grant distributions and usage data. She said 90% of ESSER funding went to LEAs, 9.5% went into the state reserve and 5% was for state administration. Care said LEAs are planning to spend about 36% of awards on accelerated learning—above the federal minimum—and reported drawdown rates for ARP funds: 71.49% on the 90% base and 74.79% on the 10% base. Care also described the final ARP/ARP‑EANS award round and noted that specific program deadlines end Sept. 30.

Board members asked about whether funds would be exhausted by the end of the school year and whether the state would return unspent money. Care said the state plans to apply for ARP late liquidation, which could extend spending timeframes; she said the Department of Education will set the precise extension and that it can be up to roughly 18 months depending on approval.

Jones drew attention to a $50,000 discretionary allocation for website translation services approved by the board; he said execution of that project is moving closer to start. He also pointed board members to a school land trust report included in the monthly report backups and invited questions to be directed to him or Director Plant.

Chair Moss asked that staff capture and share lessons learned from districts that achieved notable results with relief funding. Jessica Care said the monitoring visits include questions about implementation and that staff are beginning to collect information on practices that worked; she agreed to add that material to future presentations. "I will make sure I add that to my presentations going forward," Care said.

There were no motions or votes recorded during this portion of the meeting. Board members thanked staff for responsiveness to questions and for making the monthly budget and CARES/ESSER materials available in the public backups.

Looking ahead, staff said they will continue reminders to LEAs to draw down summer and afterschool funds while those program deadlines remain active and will notify the board when the Department of Education issues a decision on any late-liquidation request.