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Cabot district closes out ESSER spending after four-year COVID funding period
Summary
The district reported it has finalized ESSER expenditures and summarized major uses — including 19 buses, technology, HVAC and summer programs — and noted federal timing and state approval requirements for larger purchases.
Cabot School Board fiscal staff told the board the district has completed its ESSER spending and filed final reimbursements with state and federal authorities.
“As of September the thirtieth of this year, we officially wrote our last check with ESSER,” district federal programs lead said during the board meeting. She walked through the four separate ESSER allocations and described the program’s allowed uses and federal timing rules: funds must be obligated and then spent within program windows and purchases over certain thresholds required state approval.
District staff listed dozens of projects and recurring costs paid with ESSER funds. Among the items singled out were 19 new buses and on-bus camera systems; network access points; custodial supplies and PPE; summer-school programs; digital curriculum platforms; two years of academic interventionists at several campuses; salary support for nurses for one year; and HVAC and energy-control upgrades in multiple schools. Staff also said some technology and curriculum contracts that support classrooms were purchased through ESSER.
Finance staff said many purchases required state applications and six-month plan updates to justify eligibility. She described the federal rules governing grants and said local coordinators statewide collaborated on compliance and best practices.
Board members thanked the finance team and noted that ESSER enabled investments they said would have been difficult otherwise. The district indicated it remains subject to audit for five years and will continue to manage closeout requirements.
