State and federal authorities investigate CCSD’s use of taxpayer funds for beachfront solicitation trips

LAS VEGAS (KTNV) – The Clark County School District’s teacher recruiting trips and the federal taxes used to pay for them are now under increased scrutiny at the state and federal level.

The news comes in the wake of a 13 Investigates report that revealed three expensive seaside excursions generated nearly zero return on the District’s investment.

We have received information that both the United States and the Nevada Department of Education are currently evaluating approximately $55,000 that was used for recruitment across the country and beyond.

It was during the week of July 4, 2023, that at least 17 Clark County School District employees flew to Miami and stayed at a Holiday Inn for five days.
Oceanfront hotel. There were no job fairs or educational conferences. The district organized its own recruiting event, holding two half-day recruiting sessions in between nearly week-long trips.

The school district confirmed that only two people attended, and neither of them filled out an application.

The trip cost nearly $40,000, most of which was donated by the federal government’s Pandemic-Era Elementary and Secondary School Relief Fund, also known as the ESSER Fund.

In a recent interview, I asked Superintendent Dr. Jesus Jara about spending.

Darcey Spears: Was it a success in spending taxpayers’ time and employees’ time?

Jesus Hara: Well, obviously it wasn’t. But this much can be said. In Florida, teachers are under attack from the governor and legislature. So why not go and recruit teachers where you can find them?

The U.S. and Nevada Departments of Education may provide an answer to that question. When we first reported this story in December, we asked the federal government whether recruiting travel was an appropriate expenditure of coronavirus relief funds. They sent us a 97-page document, one page of which mentioned that the funds could be used to “stabilize the educator workforce.”

But what that means is not defined. Currently, the Nevada Department of Education says it is “currently evaluating the criteria and admissibility requirements for this type of ESSER funding application.”

The state is working with federal officials and providing documentation of the program approval process after conducting an “independent review of the use of these funds.”

The state did not say what it found, but said it shared its findings with the federal government on Jan. 30. It came a day after a second investigation into CCSD’s use of federal pandemic aid money to send staff on teacher recruiting trips to beach vacation spots.

CCSD superintendent admits taxpayer-funded recruiting trip to Miami Beach was a failure

“I think it’s completely insane,” former CCSD school board director Daniel Ford said of the spending.

“I think the public has a right to know every penny was spent, who spent it, why that decision was made and whether there was a return on investment,” Ford said. Ta.

I asked Sapt. Jara spoke about return on investment in a recent interview:

“Obviously, we didn’t get the benefits we were hoping for, so we need to reconsider the ROI.” [return on investment]“But for me, it means…we have to keep looking and go to places where public education is not supported,” he said.

Another location CCSD has investigated is Waikiki Beach in Hawaii, where educators live in poverty, Jara said. District officials visited Oahu twice last year to recruit teachers. The total cost of these two trips for him was just over $22,000, which also came primarily from federal coronavirus relief funds.

Darcey Spears: Did you approve of those Hawaii trips?

Jesus Jara: Absolutely, absolutely.

Spears: Were they successful?

Jara: Well, I don’t know what I got back.

The district said an event held in September attracted 100 candidates. Two resumes were collected and three were recommended for employment. Asked about the new federal investigation, CCSD said the Nevada Department of Education had pre-approved the use of ESSER funds for trips to Miami and Hawaii.

CCSD sent us the following statement: Some of its contents are as follows:

The state says the use of federal funds is allowed for teacher recruitment and retention costs, but each school district is responsible for following its own policies and procedures regarding recruitment and retention.

Here is a statement from the Nevada Department of Education in response to this investigation:

“The Nevada Department of Education’s Student Support Resource Guide currently states that ESSER funds are available to “maintain services operations, hire existing staff, increase instructional time and adjust activities shortened due to COVID-19.” It outlines that it can be used to “carry out other activities necessary to: ”

In an effort to refine and refine the ESSER allocation process, the Nevada Department of Education is currently evaluating the standards and admissibility requirements for these types of ESSER funding requests.

The Nevada Department of Education (NDE) is currently working with the United States Department of Education (USED) to evaluate the use of these funds. NDE provided her USED with documentation regarding the program’s approval process. Additionally, NDE conducted its own investigation into the use of these funds and provided the results to USED on January 30th.

Although the use of federal funds is an allowable expense for teacher recruitment and retention, each local education agency (LEA) is responsible for following its own policies and procedures regarding recruitment and retention. ”

The full statement from the Clark County School District regarding this investigation is below.

“Prior to engaging in out-of-state recruitment (Miami and Hawaii), CCSD submitted and approved recruitment-related travel instructions to the Nevada Department of Education (NDE) as part of the district’s ESSER II Second Amendment. The amendment included the following language:

“Eight human resources recruiters and four district lead ambassadors travel to major metropolitan areas (Miami, San Francisco, Honolulu, etc.) to host job fairs recruiting educators to come and teach at Clark. Funds have been budgeted for recruiting trips to county school districts. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant negative impact on education staffing. Clark County’s vacancy rate is lower than pre-pandemic levels. It’s even higher than that.”

This amendment was considered at the NDE program level and the plan was as follows:Approved as a reasonable, allowable, and allocable expenseThe final cost of Miami’s recruiting effort is $32,427.15, slightly higher than previously reported ($29,094.75) due to a prior calculation error. The final cost for Hawaii’s recruitment efforts was $22,181.61. ”

Statement from the U.S. Department of Education:

“The U.S. Department of Education continues to work with the State of Nevada and all grant recipients to ensure that COVID-19 relief funds are used in an acceptable manner consistent with statutory requirements.”