Anchorage School District's Use of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Funds (ED-OIG/F24NY0179)
Summary
U.S. Department of Education Office of Inspector General Flash Report ED-OIG/F24NY0179, Anchorage School District's Use of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Funds, dated September 19, 2024 and addressed to Commissioner Deena M. Bishop of the Alaska Department of Education. Anchorage, the state's largest district with 96 schools and about 43,700 students, was allocated approximately $174.6 million in ESSER funds and had spent $151.5 million, 87 percent, as of March 11, 2024. The OIG reviewed 20 ARP ESSER expenditures totaling $3,580,784 from July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023 and found all allowable and in accordance with requirements, with key procurement requirements met. It identified no exceptions and made no recommendations; Alaska and Anchorage had no comments on the draft.
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- Issuer
- U.S. Department of Education, Office of Inspector General
- Document type
- Report
- Date
- 2024-09-19
Cite this document
“Anchorage School District's Use of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Funds (ED-OIG/F24NY0179).”
U.S. Department of Education, Office of Inspector General, dated 2024-09-19. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/anchorage-school-district-esser/
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U.S. Department of Education
Office of Inspector General
Anchorage School District’s Use
of Elementary and Secondary
School Emergency Relief Funds
September 19, 2024
ED-OIG/F24NY0179
FLASH REPORT
NOTICE
In accordance with Freedom of Information Act (Title 5, United States Code,
Section 552), reports that the Office of Inspector General issues are available to
members of the press and general public to the extent information they contain is not
subject to exemptions in the Act.
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL
Audit Services
September 19, 2024
Deena M. Bishop. Ed.D.
Commissioner
Alaska Department of Education and Early Development
PO Box 110500
Juneau, Alaska 99811
Dear Commissioner Bishop:
Enclosed is our final report, “Anchorage School District’s Use of Elementary and Secondary School
Emergency Relief Funds,” Control Number ED-OIG/F24NY0179. This report incorporates the comments
you provided in response to the draft report. The U.S. Department of Education’s policy is to expedite
audit resolution by timely acting on findings and recommendations. Therefore, if you have any
additional comments or information that you believe may have a bearing on the resolution of this
review, you should send them directly to the following Department of Education official, who will
consider them before taking final Departmental action on this review:
Adam Schott
Delegated the Authority to Perform the Functions and Duties of the Assistant Secretary Office of
Elementary and Secondary Education
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20202
We appreciate your cooperation during this review. If you have any questions, please contact me at
(214) 790-5430 or Myra.Hamilton@ed.gov.
Sincerely,
/s/
Myra Hamilton
Regional Inspector General for Audit
Enclosure
400 MARYLAND AVENUE, S.W., WASHINGTON, DC 20202-1510
Promoting the efficiency, effectiveness, and integrity of the Department’s programs and operations.
U.S. Department of Education, Office of Inspector General
Results in Brief
Anchorage School District’s Use of Elementary and Secondary School
Emergency Relief Funds
Why the OIG Performed What Did the OIG Find?
This Work We determined that all the ESSER expenditures we reviewed for Anchorage were
Congress passed three coronavirus allowable and in accordance with applicable requirements. Allowable activities generally
relief acts within a 1-year period that include those authorized by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Individuals with
provided more than $275 billion for Disabilities Education Act, Adult Education and Family Literacy Act, Carl D. Perkins Career
an Education Stabilization Fund to and Technical Education Act of 2006, and subtitle B of title VII of the McKinney-Vento
prevent, prepare for, and respond to Homeless Assistance Act. It also includes activities listed in section A-3 of the U.S.
the coronavirus, which the President Department of Education’s Frequently Asked Questions document for the ESSER and
declared as a national emergency in Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Programs.
March 2020. This included
We also found that Anchorage complied with key Federal procurement requirements,
$189.5 billion for Elementary and
including those covering the procurement methods to be followed and contract cost,
Secondary School Emergency Relief
price, and provisions, when procuring the goods or services associated with each ESSER
(ESSER), funds intended to provide
expenditure we reviewed.
vital support to States, local
educational agencies, and schools to What Are the Next Steps?
address the impact of the Because we identified no exceptions, our report does not include recommendations.
coronavirus. Support, in part, However, our results are limited to the ESSER expenditures we reviewed, and it is critical
includes activities designed to help that any remaining ESSER funds continue to be used appropriately.
students and educators safely return
Alaska and Anchorage had no comments on our draft report.
to and sustain in-person instruction,
and that address the educational
inequities exacerbated by the
coronavirus pandemic and students’
social, emotional, mental health, and
academic needs.
Ensuring that ESSER funds are used
for allowable purposes is critical to
help address the needs of students
and educators. The Anchorage
School District (Anchorage) was
allocated approximately
$174.6 million in ESSER funds to
support 96 schools serving about
43,700 students.
We performed this review to
determine whether Anchorage
expended ESSER grant funds for
allowable purposes in accordance
with applicable requirements.
Flash Report ED-OIG/F24NY0179
Purpose
The objective of our flash review was to determine whether the Anchorage School
District (Anchorage) expended Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief
(ESSER) 1 grant funds for allowable purposes in accordance with applicable
requirements. This flash review report presents the results of our review.
Anchorage School District
The Anchorage School District in Alaska is the largest local educational agency (LEA) in
the State with 96 schools serving about 43,700 students. Anchorage was allocated
approximately $174.6 million in ESSER funds. As of March 11, 2024, Anchorage had
spent $151.5 million (87 percent) of its $174.6 million ESSER allocation to address the
impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. For our review period, Anchorage received
$101 million in ESSER funds, $90 million of which were American Rescue Plan (ARP)
ESSER funds. In its approved ARP ESSER plan, Anchorage noted that it planned to use its
ARP ESSER funds, in part, for summer school and expanded summer enrichment; virtual
summer education opportunities for students; increased training for substitute
teachers; increased instructional coaches, substitutes, teaching assistants, tutors, and
emotional supports; an afterschool reading program for students; hardware, software,
and teachers to provide online instruction; recruitment and retention incentives to
increase staffing; a data platform to consolidate multiple assessments; and increased
teacher training and oversight. Additionally, its funds were to be used, in part, for
computers; access to online learning; software; Anchorage School District Virtual School;
personal protective equipment; sanitization supplies and other measures used to meet
or exceed the Center for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines; continued
sponsorship and support for vaccinations and testing; and heating, ventilation, and air
conditioning upgrades in schools.
1
ESSER is one of multiple emergency relief funds comprising the Education Stabilization Fund, which
was first authorized and funded under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act
(March 27, 2020), and for which Congress later provided additional funding under the Coronavirus
Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (December 27, 2020) and the American Rescue
Plan (March 11, 2021). Under ESSER, the U.S. Department of Education awarded grants to State
educational agencies for the purpose of providing local educational agencies with emergency relief
funds to address the impacts that the coronavirus pandemic had on elementary and secondary schools
and their students.
U.S. Department of Education
Office of Inspector General
ED-OIG/F24NY0179 1
Results of Our Review
For the selected transactions covered by our review, Anchorage expended ESSER grant
funds for allowable purposes and in accordance with applicable requirements. We
selected and reviewed 6 non-personnel and 14 personnel ARP ESSER 2 expenditures (less
than 1 percent) from a total population of 51,033 ARP ESSER expenditures for the
period July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023 (review period). We used a judgmental, risk-
based process to select the 20 expenditures that represented $3,580,784 (5 percent) of
the $72,841,866 in total ARP ESSER expenditures during our review period.
We reviewed each expenditure to determine whether it was (1) connected to the
coronavirus pandemic (intended to prevent, prepare for, or respond to the coronavirus
pandemic, including its impact on the social, emotional, mental health, and academic
needs of students); (2) an authorized use of ESSER funds under applicable law and
regulations; and (3) reasonable and necessary and otherwise permissible under the
Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for
Federal Awards (Uniform Guidance, 2 Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.) part 200). We
also performed additional work, as needed, to determine whether Anchorage complied
with key Federal procurement requirements, specifically those covered under 2 C.F.R.
sections 200.320 (methods of procurement to be followed), 200.324 (contract cost and
price), and 200.327 (contract provisions), when procuring the goods or services
associated with each expenditure. We interviewed Anchorage officials to gain a basic
understanding of how they used ESSER funds, and their processes for approving and
monitoring ESSER expenditures.
An LEA can use ESSER funds for any activity deemed allowable under section 18003(d) of
the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (P.L. 116-136); section 313(d) of
the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (P.L. 116-260);
and section 2001(e) of ARP (P.L. 117-2). These activities generally include any activity
authorized by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act, Adult Education and Family Literacy Act, Carl D. Perkins Career and
Technical Education Act of 2006, and subtitle B of title VII of the McKinney-Vento
Homeless Assistance Act; as well as those listed in section A-3 of the U.S. Department of
Education’s Frequently Asked Questions document for the ESSER and Governor’s
Emergency Education Relief Programs (May 2021, and updated on December 7, 2022).
2
We limited the scope of our review to ARP ESSER expenditures because they represented the highest
dollar amount of ESSER expenditures when compared to other ESSER funds during our review period.
U.S. Department of Education
Office of Inspector General
ED-OIG/F24NY0179 2
We determined that all 20 (100 percent) expenditures that we reviewed for Anchorage
were used for allowable purposes and in accordance with applicable requirements.
These expenditures were generally for indirect costs; computers; educational software;
heating, ventilation, and air conditioning upgrades; and payroll. They were connected to
the coronavirus pandemic, authorized uses of ESSER funds under applicable law and
regulations, and reasonable and necessary and otherwise permissible under Uniform
Guidance. In addition, we found that Anchorage complied with key Federal
procurement requirements covered under 2 C.F.R. sections 200.320 (methods of
procurement to be followed), 200.324 (contract cost and price), and 200.327 (contract
provisions) when procuring the goods or services associated with each expenditure.
Because all the expenditures we reviewed were for allowable purposes and in
accordance with applicable requirements, we make no recommendations in this report.
However, our results are limited to the ESSER expenditures we reviewed, and it is critical
that any remaining ESSER funds continue to be used appropriately.
Alaska Department of Education and Early Development’s
Comments
The Alaska Department of Education and Early Development had no comments on the
draft report since no issues were identified. Anchorage also had no comments on this
report.
U.S. Department of Education
Office of Inspector General
ED-OIG/F24NY0179 3
Appendix A. Scope and Methodology
Our review covered Anchorage’s ARP ESSER expenditures from July 1, 2022, through
June 30, 2023 (review period). We limited the scope of our review to ARP ESSER funds
because Anchorage’s ARP ESSER funds represented the highest dollar amount
($90 million) of all ESSER funds ($101 million) that were allocated to and expended by
them during our review period. We also limited our internal control work to gaining a
basic understanding of the process that Anchorage used to account for ESSER funds,
including the accounting system and accounting codes used by Anchorage. We
conducted our review remotely from March 2024 through July 2024. We discussed the
results of our review with Anchorage and Alaska Department of Education and Early
Development officials on July 9, 2024.
Sampling Methodology
To determine whether Anchorage expended ARP ESSER grant funds during our review
period for allowable purposes in accordance with applicable requirements, we selected
and reviewed 20 expenditures (less than 1 percent) from a total population of
51,033 expenditures using a judgmental, risk-based, selection process. We stratified the
population between personnel and non-personnel expenditures and selected 6 non-
personnel expenditures and 14 personnel expenditures. The 6 non-personnel
expenditures (less than 1 percent) were selected from a total of 1,278 non-personnel
ARP ESSER expenditures and represented $3,150,068 (26 percent) of the $12,272,670 in
total non-personnel ARP ESSER expenditures from our review period. The 14 personnel
expenditures (less than 1 percent) were selected from the total population of
49,755 personnel expenditures and represented $430,716 (less than 1 percent) of the
$60,569,196 in total personnel ARP ESSER expenditures from our review period.
We selected the 19 expenditures using one or a combination of the following criteria:
For non-personnel expenditures, we identified the highest dollar transaction for each of
the 21 unique object descriptions above $172,211, and for personnel expenditures, we
identified the highest dollar transaction for each of the 29 unique object descriptions
above $5,334. From those identified transactions, we selected for review 5 of the
highest dollar non-personnel expenditures per transaction description and the 14
highest dollar personnel expenditures per object description. In addition, we
judgmentally selected for review one non-personnel expenditure because it included an
uncommon transaction description. Since the expenditures were selected using a
judgmental, risk-based, selection process, the results of our testing cannot be projected
to the universe of ARP ESSER expenditures.
U.S. Department of Education
Office of Inspector General
ED-OIG/F24NY0179 4
Use of Computer-Processed Data
We relied, in part, on computer-processed data (LEA expenditure data) from
Anchorage’s accounting system. Anchorage provided us with a PDF of a report
generated from its accounting system that contained its ARP ESSER expenditure data
from July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023. We converted the PDF document to a
spreadsheet for quicker review and analysis. To assess the completeness of the
expenditure data in the spreadsheet, we compared total expenditures in the
spreadsheet to total expenditures in the four quarterly ARP ESSER expenditure reports
that Anchorage submitted to the Alaska Department of Education and Early
Development for our review period. To assess the reliability of the expenditure data in
the spreadsheet, we reviewed supporting documentation, such as invoices and proof of
payment, for the 20 expenditures covered by our review. We did not identify any issues
and concluded that the expenditure data in the spreadsheet were reliable for their
intended use.
Compliance with Standards
We conducted our work in accordance with OIG quality control standards and the
Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency “Quality Standards for
Federal Offices of Inspector General,” which require that we conduct our work with
integrity, objectivity, and independence. We believe that the information obtained
provides a reasonable basis for our conclusions.
U.S. Department of Education
Office of Inspector General
ED-OIG/F24NY0179 5
Appendix B: Acronyms and Abbreviations
ARP American Rescue Plan
Anchorage Anchorage School District
C.F.R. Code of Federal Regulations
ESSER Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief
LEA local educational agency
Uniform Guidance Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and
Audit Requirements for Federal Awards
U.S. Department of Education
Office of Inspector General
ED-OIG/F24NY0179 6
Alaska Department of Education and Early
Development’s Comments
U.S. Department of Education
Office of Inspector General
ED-OIG/F24NY0179 7
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