Michigan schools get creative in spending federal COVID-19 relief funds – By Lily Altavena (Detroit Free Press) / April 11, 2022
District and charter schools across Michigan have $6 billion in federal pandemic relief funds to spend — but some of the planned uses are not explicitly pandemic-related, according to spending proposals submitted to the state.
Among them: A playground ball pit, metal detectors and a nutrition room with smoothie service.
Schools have a lot of flexibility in using the influx of federal money — and just a few years to spend it. Proposed uses vary greatly among the more than 500 school districts and nearly 300 charter schools, and cover nearly everything from athletic fields to food trucks, according to a review by the Detroit Free Press in collaboration with Chalkbeat Detroit and Bridge Michigan.
When asked about non-COVID-related spending, school district leaders said they believed spending on athletics and other similar categories fit under the broad umbrella of student well-being. Others said they were making infrastructural and building improvements they’ve already waited too long to make, thanks to years of inadequate state funding.
