Florida Department of Education’s Administration and Oversight of Emergency Assistance to Nonpublic Schools Grant Funds

Congress provided $5.5 billion for the Emergency Assistance to Nonpublic Schools (EANS) program. The purpose of the EANS programs, authorized under the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSA) and American Rescue Plan (ARP), is to provide services or assistance to eligible nonpublic schools to address educational disruptions caused by the COVID-19 emergency. We conducted an audit to determine whether the Florida Department of Education (FDOE) designed and implemented (1) application processes that adequately assessed nonpublic schools’ eligibility for EANS-funded services or assistance and complied with other applicable requirements and (2) oversight processes to ensure that EANS-funded services or assistance were used for allowable purposes. The assistance and comply with other applicable requirements were generally adequate; however, it did not have written procedures for its we found that the application that FDOE developed for nonpublic schools to apply for services and assistance did not ensure that it could use the application data to adequately assess nonpublic schools’ eligibility. The ARP EANS application was not adequate because it included instructions that allowed nonpublic schools to use proportionality data as one of five data source options for estimating the number of students enrolled in their school that were from low-income families. Further, FDOE’s oversight of its CRRSA and ARP EANS expenditure and inventory processes needs strengthening. Specifically, FDOE did not have formal written procedures for its expenditure review and approval processes. Also, FDOE’s processes did not ensure that it obtained prior approval from the Department before funding nonpublic school equipment purchases with a per unit cost of $5,000 or more. Additionally, FDOE did not ensure that it inventoried or tracked items, such as supplies, that were purchased with a per unit cost under $5,000.