BOISE, Idaho — This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press.
The State Board of Education is hoping to have its review of ineligible purchases made under the Empowering Parents grant program completed and the issues resolved by the fall, in time for the next cycle of applications.
The board met Wednesday in Pocatello and discussed its review of purchasing made under the grant program. The meeting occurred shortly after Gov. Brad Little wrote a letter to board leadership last week requesting a “full financial audit” of the educational microgrant program, Idaho EdNews reported.
Staff intend to provide a full report on the review to the recently formed Empowering Parents Advisory Council at its meeting on July 10, said Jenn Thompson, the chief planning and policy officer for the board. The council will provide recommendations to the board.
The program, which has been among Little’s top priorities, first rolled out in 2022 using federal pandemic-relief funds to provide grants to eligible students for educational expenses, such as tutoring or technology. The Legislature made the program permanent during the 2023 session, allocating $30 million of state money toward it. Grants are $1,000 per student or up to $3,000 per family, and lower-income households are prioritized.
Board members Wednesday stood by the program, lauding its successes amid its early struggles.
“It’s clear to me that this has been, in my mind at least, a highly successful program when you look at the amount of interest that it has received from all Idaho,” board member Kurt Liebich said at the meeting. “... To me, this is a terrific program but with any program, there’s room for improvement.”
Around $50 million has been distributed to nearly 50,000 Idaho students, he said.
The online marketplace, through which the grants must be used, launched in mid-November 2022. Within a couple months, the Empowering Parents Grant Program Coordinator Heather Zeitlin identified purchases that appeared to be ineligible, Thompson said. The team worked with the contractor to “provide clarity on the statutory definitions of eligible expenses,” and required the contractor to conduct a review of all the purchases made on its platform as well as provide additional reporting.
Staff also stepped in to suspend some subcontractors' accounts until they could verify that issues had been resolved.
In April, staff began an independent review of all purchases made with the grants.
“That’s a pretty big undertaking because we’re looking at a manual review of more than 50,000 purchases, each of those purchases contains multiple items, and so this has been a really intensive process,” Thompson said.
The review is about three-quarters of the way complete, she said, and 80% of purchases reviewed so far have been determined “very clearly eligible,” and 7% appear to be ineligible or are clearly ineligible — such as smart watches or cleaning supplies. Other items in the review are questionable, such as backpacks or equipment that could be used for physical education, she said; for this category, the advisory council will determine if these types of purchases should be added to the list of eligible purchases.
Parents who clearly used grant funds inappropriately will be notified, removed from the program and unable to participate in the future. This decision can be appealed to the Parent Advisory Council, which may recommend reinstatement of the account.
Thompson said she is working with the state Division of Purchasing to determine if there is a way to recoup funds. There are also plans to increase frequency of the release of review reports from monthly to weekly.
Thompson said staff is working with the contractor to get itemized purchase reports to more clearly determine exactly how much money was spent on ineligible purchases, and the issue should hopefully not persist in the future.
“It appears the contractor has now established procedures that will protect against ineligible expenses with the funds that remain in parent accounts,” she said.
Empowering Parents has had its share of struggles. In December of 2022 many Idaho parents were frustrated by the slow pace of application reviews, the Idaho Capital Sun reported at the time.
The budget bill to make the Empowering Parents grants permanent also faced an uphill battle in the Legislature, narrowly passing the House in the final days of the session.
Legislation was also introduced, but did not pass, that would have added to the program to allow tuition grants for private schools — something Little has said he is against.
The Empowering Parents Advisory Council will discuss the review of purchases and how to move forward at its July 10 meeting in Twin Falls.
This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press, read more on IdahoPress.com.
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