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Indiana Launches Statewide Dashboard on COVID School Funding

The Indiana Department of Education’s transparency tool shows how locally developed spending plans are putting to use three rounds of federal ESSER funding, as well as competitive state grants.

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(TNS) — The Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) has launched a statewide COVID-19 relief school spending dashboard.

It can be found at bit.ly/3uf6lNZ.

The dashboard reflects COVID-19 federal relief grant fund reimbursements as part of schools’ locally developed spending plans, which are focused on improving student learning.

“Empowered by historic levels of state and federal education funding, schools have an unparalleled opportunity to improve students’ educational outcomes with these dollars,” said Katie Jenner, Indiana Secretary of Education.

“To most impactfully invest these funds, we must focus on accelerating student learning, supporting educators, promoting sustainable innovation, and updating technology and other infrastructure.”

The dashboard reflects school grant allocations and reimbursements from the three rounds of federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding, as well as competitive grants that were awarded to schools from federal Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) funding.

ESSER funding is proportionally allocated to local school districts based on the federal Title I formula. Reimbursements are made to local districts once they spend the funds on approved expenses as part of their locally-developed plans.

Across Indiana, $2.8 billion in federal funding has been allocated to local school districts. Currently, more than $550 million in expenditures have been reimbursed — with school districts continuing to submit for reimbursements on allowable expenses per federal law.

School corporations have through September 2022 to encumber the first round of ESSER funding and through September 2023 and September 2024, respectively, to encumber the second and third rounds of their ESSER grants.

To date, these funds have commonly been used to accelerate student learning, support educators, promote sustainable innovation and update technology and other infrastructure.

©2022 The Tribune-Star (Terre Haute, Ind.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.