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Haywood County Schools says it spent nearly all ESSER relief funds; $1,307 remained
Summary
District staff told the Board that Haywood County Schools spent about $15 million in ESSER funding, leaving $1,307 unspent tied to an after‑school robotics purchase; the funds were used largely to cover payroll and build fund balance ahead of the ESSER cliff.
Haywood County Schools staff told the Board of Education that the district spent nearly all of its Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds, leaving $1,307 unspent.
The ESSER funds ended Sept. 30 and had to be expended (“spun out”) by December, a staff presenter said. The district used roughly $15,000,000 of ESSER 3 funding and reported that only $1,307 remained unspent; that balance was tied to an encumbered after‑school robotics purchase that was ultimately denied.
District staff said ESSER money was used in several ways including covering positions that otherwise would have been paid from local dollars. The presenter said district leadership had an early policy of not hiring new employees with ESSER dollars; instead the district temporarily paid existing staff out of ESSER and thereby saved local funds. That practice, staff said, helped grow the district’s fund balance and reduced local operating pressure at a time when many districts faced an “ESSER funding cliff.”
Board members asked how the district would sustain positions previously supported by ESSER now that those funds have ended. Staff responded that those positions were not new hires but reallocations of existing salary lines so the district had not permanently added staff because of ESSER. The presenter also said encumbrance timing at the end of the grant period made final spending challenging.
Board members and other speakers praised the staff member who prepared the spending summaries and spreadsheets, saying her work likely saved the district money. No board vote or formal action was recorded on the ESSER report at the meeting.
The district did not provide a written breakdown of every ESSER expenditure during the meeting beyond a two‑page summary, which staff said shows line‑by‑line ESSER 3 spending.
