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Rockford schools report ARP/ESSER spending: facilities upgrades, learning‑loss investments, final expenditure report filed
Summary
District staff reported final accounting of federal COVID relief (CARES, ESSER II, ARP ESSER) funds, saying most ARP ESSER dollars were spent on facility upgrades (air quality) and learning‑loss strategies and that the district filed its final expenditure report with the state in December.
District administrators gave the board the final report on CARES/ESSER/ARP ESSER expenditures, summarizing how federal pandemic relief funds were allocated and confirming the district filed its final expenditure report with the state in December.
Dr. Brown, the district’s presenter on federal grant spending, summarized three tranches: CARES Act funds (initial pandemic response), ESSER II and ARP ESSER. He reported total receipts and the ARP ESSER allocation used for facilities (notably air quality upgrades), learning‑loss strategies and staffing supports. “A good chunk of the money we had to spend a minimum of $36,000,000 on learning‑loss strategy. We ended up spending more than that,” Brown said. He told the board the district completed facility upgrades for roughly $2 million less than budgeted and reallocated savings to learning‑loss work.
Brown listed several local partnerships and vendors funded through ARP ESSER for supplemental instruction and services. He said charter schools did not spend all of their allocations in some cases and that the district used unspent charter dollars where allowable to fund programs others wanted to continue. Brown said some late, targeted grants (for example, McKinney‑Vento set‑aside and certain IDEA addenda) had narrow allowable uses and were not fully spent.
Board members asked whether programs funded with ARP/ESSER would continue after federal funds ended. Administrators said some buildings elected to continue programs using local allocations when they judged the work effective; others did not. Brown said the district completed the projects, closed out grants and filed final reports in December.
Ending: The report was informational. Board members thanked administration for maximizing allowable spending and asked staff to follow up on which locally valued services will be continued with local funds and which will end when federal funding sunsets.
