When DOGE started sniffing around the Department of Education investigators found billions in COVID relief funds were wasted. It didn’t take them long to learn schools spent the money on everything but students. Now, none of them can read, write or do math. Some of them got to go swimming, though. In LA, they bought their own ice cream truck.
Squandered COVID cash
On Thursday, February 20, the Department of Government Efficiency announced that “public school districts burned through hundreds of billions of dollars” in federal COVID cash.
What they wasted the money on did “little” to help students. Things like “renting an MLB stadium for graduation, luxe hotel stays in Las Vegas and even swimming pool passes.”
In a social media post, the newly formed watchdog revealed that “schools have spent nearly $200B” of COVID related funds “with little oversight or impact on students.”
Elon Musk also had some interesting things to say at the Conservative Political Action Conference. He’s scrounging millions of dollars at a time out from under the bureaucratic sofa cushions.
In California’s Santa Ana Unified School District, they spent $393,000 in COVID money “to rent out the Los Angeles Angels baseball stadium for high school graduation ceremonies.”
That way they could spread the students out to quarantine distances. None of the graduates had a clue how to draw out a six foot circle, though. They think Pi is something you eat for a snack.
Cold cash for ice cream
Another district in California, that’s not being identified, “purchased an ice cream truck with the pandemic relief money.” It’s not clear how that benefited COVID impacted students.
DOGE was tipped off to that item by “an investigation from the nonprofit group Parents Defending Education.”
In the state of Utah, “Granite Public Schools spent roughly $86,000 in taxpayer money to cover accommodations at the luxurious Caesars Palace hotel and casino during an annual conference.”
Students didn’t see a dime of that COVID relief. The only ones who benefited were the owners of the casino.
Over in West Virginia, Upshur County School District at least gets credit for dropping the money on the kids instead of themselves. They spent “$60,000 in federal funds on swimming pool passes.”
They might catch COVID in the pool but at least they aren’t cooped up in quarantine. “All of this money was drawn with zero documentation,” Musk notes. There’s still money left in the account. From now on, the districts need to spend the money then apply for reimbursement.
