LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) –
10/11 NOW broke down how much money Lincoln Public Schools has spent to keep the district safe, as they began a new budget year on Tuesday.
LPS has spent $2.6 million in the last five months.
The 2019-2020 fiscal year wrapped up at midnight on Monday, and in a report sent to 10/11, they outlined where the money went, spending money on things like hand sanitizer and internet hot spots.
“We invested in things like document cameras for teachers, chrome book bags for those grade levels who weren’t used to taking those home,” said LPS Associate Superintendent, Liz Standish.
The spending is broken down into five categories:
Remote learning – nearly $680,000
Cleaning supplies – around $60,000
PPE – almost $400,000
Payroll – $1.3 million
And another $211,000 on stuff like legal expenses and interpreters.
That means right around half went to paying teachers and staff diagnosed with COVID-19 or those in quarantine.
“One of the requirements was keeping people on staff, so even though the district was closed we were still paying people,” said Standish.
Most of this comes from $6.2 million in CARES Act dollars given to LPS, leaving the district with about $3.5 million for this fiscal year.
“We do anticipate that leave being a significant expense. As we have staff who may become sick or are quarantined, they will access that leave, and then we are paying a second person to go do that job,” said Standish.
With more than 60 schools in the district and needs for all of them, 10/11 NOW asked Standish if that is enough.
She says it depends on how long and how hard the pandemic is.
“We just need to see how we go through the PPE and the leave that staff has access to, so we really have no way of knowing,” said Standish.
Sometime in the next few days, we are expecting that we will have a better look at the expenses with an itemized report.
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