Headline: Luxury Hotels and Baseball Stadiums: How Schools Utilized Billions in Pandemic Aid, Unveils DOGE
Schools have allegedly expended hundreds of billions in pandemic relief funds on non-essential costs with little benefit to students, such as hotel stays in Las Vegas and the acquisition of an ice cream truck, states the governmental cost-cutting section overseen by the Trump administration.
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), spearheaded by Elon Musk with the aim of eradicating wasteful government expenditure, disclosed on a recent Thursday that schools had spent approximately $200 billion of pandemic relief funds with limited supervision or student impact.
According to a report endorsed by DOGE from Parents Defending Education, Granite Public Schools in Utah used their pandemic relief funds to cover $86,000 in hotel accommodations at Caesars Palace, a luxurious Las Vegas Casino. Meanwhile, Santa Ana Unified shelled out $393,000 to lease a Major League Baseball stadium.
The cost-saving division also reported that schools had allocated $60,000 of pandemic relief money on swimming pool passes, and one California district used its funds to acquire an ice cream truck.
DOGE stressed that these funds were distributed without any supporting documents. The department also mentioned that the Trump administration intends to implement stricter requirements for the allocation of the remaining $4 billion from the funds. It will now require all recipients to "submit receipts for every purchase before funding is released."
The revelations about the use of these funds has incited widespread indignation among local leaders and education groups nationwide as the Trump administration revises the Department of Education's funding issuance.
In response to the findings, Moms for Liberty stated, "Never let them forget that we were right about everything." Will O'Neil, chairman of the Orange County Republican Party, referred to the funds spent on leasing the MLB stadium as "an absolute joke," while the Republican Party of Bexar County expressed their outrage.
DOGE has specifically targeted the Department of Education's spending, recently eliminating $370 million in taxpayer money being used on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). The department terminated 70 DEI training grants within the department, one of which funded training for teachers to "engage in ongoing learning and self-reflection to confront their own biases and racism, and develop asset-based anti-racist mindsets," according to DOGE.