MEMPHIS, Tennessee — In tonight’s Ransom Note: where’s the money?
It’s a question we expect to be asking a lot with Uncle Sam handing out trillions to keep the economy going.
Let’s start with our schools.
According to the state of Tennessee, Shelby County was allocated $48,633,664.51 in Cares Act funding. SCS says almost $12,000,000 went to charter and private schools, leaving 36.9 million dollars.
So, if the district is having fundraisers to buy ten-dollar headsets because quote “limited Cares dollars” don’t allow them to buy something that is essential for learning virtually, we wondered where exactly is the money going.
Today, we finally heard back, but the answers were embarrassingly vague.
It said some of the money was spent on buying digital devices for every student. It also spent money on personal protective equipment; no idea of how much that was.
And the rest was spent to pay teachers “to deliver additional learning opportunities to students during school breaks” such as fall and spring breaks. Again, no dollar amount was provided.
Taxpayers deserve better. And it’s not just SCS.
Why did charter and private schools get federal dollars?
Questions that we’ll keep asking.
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