The Benton Harbor Area Schools Board of Education is considering how to spend what’s left of federal dollars that were given to the district during the COVID pandemic. Speaking at a meeting this week, consultant Molly Vincent from Hungerford Nichols accounting firm said there’s still plenty of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief, or ESSER, money to spend.
“Of the ESSER funds, there’s about $43 million that was awarded to Benton Harbor,” Vincent said. “We’ve spent about $15 million so far.”
The ESSER money comes in three phases, ESSER 1, 2, and 3. Vincent said there are deadlines for spending those dollars.
“ESSER 2 we are projecting to be spent down by the end of this fiscal year, which is June 30, and then we’re already making progress spending down ESSER 3, which has some of the hot topic items in it as well. We’ve been talking about technology, we’ve been talking about boilers.”
The deadline for everything is the end of September of next year. Trustee Reinaldo Tripplett asked for a detailed list of how all ESSER money has been spent so far. He said trustees and the public should have their voices heard when it comes to how those funds are used.
