Consultant tells East Baton Rouge board to use school-by-school spending data as ESSER funds expire

Jessica Swanson, a consultant with the Edgenomics Lab who previously led finance work in DC Public Schools, told the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board on Jan. 14 that members should make school-by-school spending and student outcome data a central part of budget decisions now that federal ESSER relief funding has ended.

Swanson said the district received “about 211,000,000, a little over 5,000 per student” in ESSER funds and emphasized that the national ESSER program, which she described as the largest one-time federal infusion for schools, is finished for most districts. She said the formal deadline to spend ESSER funds was “September 30th,” and noted some states allowed limited extensions for already-obligated contracts through March 2026.

The consultant framed the change as part of a broader shift school boards face in 2026: a leaner recurring budget after a temporary funding spike, continued inflation-driven salary and operational costs, and enrollment declines. Swanson showed district visualizations that combine actual per-student spending (including salary costs and a share of central office) with proficiency results and poverty levels, and she walked board members through uses of the data to spot schools that spend more or less than peers and to identify higher-return…