Federal taxpayer dollars intended to provide kids with school instruction during COVID lockdowns instead ended up in the hands of left-wing social activists, leaving kids to suffer record learning losses.
Now Congress is demanding the Biden administration cooperate with investigations to uncover how the misuse occurred.
House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., Committee on Education and the Workforce Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., and Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis Chairman Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, are calling on Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to turn over all documents, communications and policies guiding the Department's administration COVID-19 education funds.
“In 2020, Congress appropriated $67.5 billion to help states address the impact of COVID-19 on elementary and secondary schools across the United States. Under the American Rescue Plan Act, Democrats provided yet another $122 billion in COVID-19 education funds,” the lawmakers write in their letter to Cardona.
“Several states, including California, Illinois, Massachusetts, and New York, have used these education funds on radical, left-wing agendas, including, in one case, encouraging the use of a racial slur by a principal. Meanwhile, American students continue to suffer from historic learning losses due to prolonged school closures,” the committee chairs add.
“Rather than use ESSER funds to help students recover from learning losses, some states and school districts that kept schools closed appear to have spent ESSER funds to push favored social agendas,” continued the lawmakers. “These activities appear to have nothing to do with COVID-19 mitigation or learning loss and are a waste and misuse of taxpayer-funded COVID-19 relief programs,” they continue.
“The Committee on Oversight and Accountability, Committee on Education and the Workforce, and Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic continue to investigate the misuse of COVID-19 relief funds intended to help schools safely reopen, mitigate the spread of COVID-19, and address catastrophic learning loss,” they write.
“The Committees are giving priority to oversight of COVID-19 relief programs to determine the Department of Education's role in monitoring and guiding states in their use of billions in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds,” they write.
“It is important for the American people and their elected lawmakers to understand how the Department administers funds intended to assist students during the pandemic and the extent to which any funds may have been misused by State Educational Agencies or Local Educational Agencies for unrelated purposes,” the lawmakers add.
The members have given Cardona until April 17 to turn over all requested documents and communications.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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DeFund if possible
Nationwide
Poor leadership brings poor results at taxpayers’ expense. IMO