Indianapolis Public Schools will publicly post federal (taxpayer) relief-fund spending

Aaricka Washington:

So that the public can see how Indianapolis Public Schools is using federal coronavirus relief funds, district officials plan to post online a tracker detailing how they are spending $213.5 million federal funds.

“We know folks are paying close attention to how schools are leveraging these dollars,” Superintendent Aleesia Johnson said on Tuesday. “We want to make sure that we are being as transparent as possible.”

The tracker will categorize spending within each of the three federal aid packages. It will show how much the district has spent in categories like instructional support and personal protective equipment. The tracker, which will include charts, will not break down expenditures by school.

The district plans to update the data quarterly. Viewers will be able to see the tracker on the district website later this week.

IPS has only recently begun to spend its federal aid.

“We’re not three or four years down the road where we know what we’ve spent. We’re at the very beginning,” said Weston Young, the district’s chief financial officer. “So our decision-making process with community feedback, that’s critical.”

Madison has apparently received $70M+ in the most recently redistributed federal taxpayer funds.