House GOP Probes Possible Misuse of COVID Relief Funds to Promote ‘Left-Leaning’ Agendas in Schools

A congressional investigation is currently underway to determine if $190 billion in relief funding for elementary and secondary schools during the COVID-19 pandemic was used to support political agendas rather than addressing learning loss, as per the original intent of lawmakers. The House Committees on Oversight and Accountability and Education and the Workforce and the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic have asked Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona to provide a collection of documents related to the approval, distribution, and oversight of funding from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund to determine if the funding was utilized for the intended purpose.

According to a letter from committee chairs James Comer (R-Ky.), Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), and Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) to Secretary Cardona (pdf), “some states and school districts that kept schools closed appear to have spent ESSER funds to push favored social agendas…rather than to help students recover from learning losses.” Congress approved ESSER spending in three rounds of funding to provide schools affected by the pandemic with emergency relief. The first round, ESSER I, allocated $13.2 billion for this purpose in March 2020 through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. ESSER II (also known as ESSER ARP) added an additional $54.3 billion through the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act in December 2020. The American Rescue Plan Act then expanded the ESSER Fund by $122 billion in March 2021 to support school operations, address problems in the student population, and aid in the safe reopening of schools.

States received funding according to plans approved by the Department of Education, with the committee chairs stating that “reports indicate billions of allocated taxpayer dollars are now being used by State Democrat leaders to push left-leaning ideologies in public schools rather than to fix the significant academic gaps caused by school closures.”

The letter also cited potential examples of ESSER fund misuse, such as a Massachusetts school district allegedly using $56,800 of ESSER funds to pay for a consultant who directed a high school principal to use a racial slur in a faculty meeting to promote courage and vulnerability.” This activity seems to have no relation to COVID-related learning loss relief.