The U.S. Department of Education (ED) Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently released its oversight plan for fiscal year 2022 for COVID-19 stimulus funds. The work will include both audit and investigation activities and will review activities within ED as well as activities of local and State educational agencies and schools.
Within ED, OIG plans to review ED’s oversight of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds, ED’s implementation of TEACH grant flexibilities, Federal Student Aid’s (FSAs) restart of student loan payment collection, FSA’s process for return of Title IV funds and student loan cancellation, and ED’s oversight of the Higher Education Emergency Relief (HEER) funds.
ED OIG will also conduct reviews and activities outside of ED, examining State and local educational agencies’ and schools’ use of ESSER funds, focusing on activities to address learning loss; use of ESSER funds for technology; allocation and use of funds under the American Rescue Plan for homeless children and youth; award and monitoring of Governor’s Emergency Education Relief funds and plans for allocating those funds to eligible entities; process for administering Emergency Assistance to Non-Public Schools funds; use of both the student aid and institutional portion of HEER funds; and compliance with the return of Title IV waiver requirements.
Although ED OIG has already initiated oversight activities for COVID-19 stimulus funds, the plan released recently provides more clarity on which issues in particular ED OIG will be focusing on for the upcoming year.
ED OIG’s pandemic oversight plan is available here.
Author: KSC
