Tennessee public school districts received just shy of $3.47 billion in response to the pandemic. What was intended for safe returns to classrooms and to combat learning loss, many of these dollars have been budgeted on items that have little relation to safety or getting students back to where they were academically before the pandemic. Retractable bleachers, walk-in coolers, and new buildings can be legitimate school expenditures, but when dollars were intended to combat the pandemic and learning loss, these budget areas don’t pass the smell test.
Click the links below to see how funds were allocated in other counties.