“Spending Without Strategy” Identified As One of Several Key Problems in West Virginia School Systems: Part I

By Stephen Smoot

A basic maxim of receiving a large amount of funding one time lies in not using such funds for ongoing expenses, but for single time needs. American Rescue Plan Act and related COVID funds were best used for maintenance, vehicle acquisition, or purchases of technology. Many systems, however, applied the funding to spending on hiring personnel and other decisions that would require finding more funds when ARPA ran out.