|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
NEW BEDFORD — On Tuesday evening, members of the School Committee sat across from Jen Ferland, a public schools administrator, and asked whether the district met the Sept. 30 deadline that loomed over a historic injection of COVID-relief funds from the federal government.
“We essentially landed the jumbo jet,” Ferland said. The district will not return a dime of the $74 million it received over the last four years from the federal government in ESSER grants, the official name of post-COVID education awards.
Public bids were received and selected last month for two major construction projects, a school-based health center and HVAC improvements at Gomes Elementary. Any remaining funds were used to defray salary expenses across the district, according to Ferland.
Other projects that used ESSER funds include the new central kitchen (slated to open in January), accessibility upgrades in several elementary schools, new and updated athletic facilities, improved HVAC in several schools, and improvements to windows, doors, and school security.
“Everything that had to be in yesterday was in yesterday,” Ferland said. She cautioned that some financial reports will not yet show zero, as the district has received approval to continue spending its ESSER dollars over the next 14 months. The Sept. 30 deadline was to “encumber,” or designate for spending, all the remaining grant money. The district met that deadline.
Though it was a race to wrap up some of the last awards and bids, district administrators celebrated their strategy to focus on the district’s long-term financial health. Ferland described the strategy as “develop[ing] recurring benefits instead of recurring costs” — that is, renovating and improving schools, rather than hiring new teachers and increasing the payroll.
“Projects like the central kitchen and school-based health center will elevate health and nutrition for all city students, including those attending non-district schools, for decades to come,” said Superintendent Andrew O’Leary.
“Meanwhile, targeted space renovations at Brooks and Hathaway will extend the useful life of these buildings, multiplying the impact of multimillion-dollar [state-funded] projects,” O’Leary continued. “The HVAC project at Gomes, like the HVAC project completed at Pulaski, will move [New Bedford] to having a majority of students served in climate-controlled environments.”
The last two major projects, the school-based health center and the Gomes HVAC project, saw bids come in that were different from the district’s projections. The health center contract was $6 million, exceeding its roughly $4.5 million projection. But that was balanced out by the Gomes HVAC project being awarded for $3 million, which was below its $5 million expected cost.
In total, the district spent $29 million on construction costs from the latest installment of the COVID funds — known as ESSER III, which totaled $47 million. Two earlier rounds of the grant had already been closed out, and represented a combined $27 million. Altogether, the three rounds of ESSER funding added up to a total of about $74 million.
Other school districts around the country are facing a funding cliff as the final round of these grants expire, but New Bedford’s strategy has avoided that dilemma. “We didn't put a lot into salaries to begin with,” said Rachel Bento-Cunha, the district’s assistant business manager. “We knew that ESSER wasn't going to be here forever.”
Over the next 14 months, the last of the ESSER projects must be completed, and New Bedford officials say the district is on track to do so.
Email Colin Hogan at chogan@newbedfordlight.org
Return money? Is this really any surprise? If it is, you haven’t paid any attention to School Budgets in the past!
The worst thing you can do when you are buying something is rush into it. I can’t believe the school spent 33% more than budgeted for a health center just because they were up against a deadline. Poor management and waste.
The money should have been left on the table?
“We didn’t put a lot into salaries to begin with”??? What’s the $13 million for Administration, Instructional/Professional, Support and Stipends? Where will the money come from next cycle? The attics and cellars of schools are filled with new equipment and supplies that just get buried with repeat purchases because they cannot demonstrate fiscal responsibility in their budget!
What is is the attics and cellars? Do you have a list?
Albert, please follow up on this.
I say Amen to that.
Years to plan and spend the funds —yet the school district claims success because they met the deadline by a few days!!! Sounds like they need to take a second look at he personnel responsible for grant management.
If they did not meet the deadline the money would have gone away.
Would that have been responsible?
Where is the money going?
Local vendors?