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YCSD received $78 million during the pandemic but now faces a large deficit... where did the money go?

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The Youngstown City School District received $78 million in 2021 and 2022 from the Federal government to help the schools recover from the learning setbacks brought on by the pandemic. This one-in-a-lifetime infusion of cash gave the troubled district an opportunity to use the money to help the students and stabilize the future of the district.

But now, the Ohio auditor says the district needs to make drastic changes ahead of its nearly $17 million deficit by 2028. 

So, where did the money go, and what did the district get in return?

In this Watchdog report, 21 News follows up on the district’s spending we reported on last year, where we found millions of dollars that were wasted on projects that went nowhere, didn’t work, or for COVID tests, which a source of knowledge of the situation said that approximately 5 percent of the purchased tests ended up in the trash, an estimated $184,000 loss.

Youngstown is one of three districts in the state that was taken over by the state after being assessed as an academically distressed district and placed under state control in 2016.

With the district now facing a large deficit, we take a look at services the district has purchased while under a state-approved CEO model that gave the district leader total control of spending without input from the school board, during the time of former state-appointed CEO and superintendent Justin Jennings from 2019 through 2023, and current superintendent Jeremy Batchelor through early 2024.

The services purchased by the district come from either contracts, purchase orders, or disbursement sheets from the district. The services the district received for the funds also come from the same documents or the company’s websites stating what each of the businesses offers, and regional businesses or those with Valley ties list who owns the business as well.

The breakdown of spending shows how the district spent some of its money – or made partial payments – some of which were paid for by the federally funded $78-million pandemic recovery money, known as elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Funds or ESSER. Several of the contracts the district entered into were multiple-year contracts, some with options of up to a 10-year extension unless canceled by either party.

Here’s what we found. 

Nearly $32 million went for services YCSD purchased; some were in response to the pandemic, while some funds went to repairs of district buildings. 

The district spent nearly $22 million on wellness care, including physical and mental health care. The district also spent nearly $8.2 million on professional development for the district leaders and some teachers, plus another $7 million for workshops and programs for students and administrators, ranging from professional development for school administrators and speakers to a horseback riding development session for staff and students.

The district also purchased some new vehicles, technology, and education software.

This is not a comprehensive listing of all funds spent in this time but a glimpse at where the district chose to spend some of its ESSER and general fund money since 2019, broken down by categories and the total amount of purchased services in each category.

It's important to note that we have no information to indicate that any of these companies have violated any rules, laws or ethical boundaries. The purpose of this story is simply to point out how the Youngstown School District spent money in the years leading up to it's projected deficit to create a more complete picture of where the money went.  It's unclear what connection, if any, FBI raids earlier this year seeking information regarding potential "kickbacks" relating to contracts involving federal money spent by the district have to any of these contracts. QuickMed's Liberty headquarters and the home of its CEO and founder, Lena Esmail, were conducted on the same day as the searches of the school district. 

Here are the spending by categories we placed each into, followed by the total purchased in each area. A few of the contracts noted may have an editor's note indicating services were not provided to YCSD, but the district handles other schools' funds.

SERVICES - $31,951,013.98

 WELLNESS CARE - $21,963,814.35 

TECHNOLOGY/COMPUTER HARDWARE - $10,664,544.71

STAFF TRAINING - $8,191,741.94

WORKSHOPS/PROGRAMS - $7,196,542.04

VEHICLES - $5,119,154.51

EDUCATION - $3,122,324.41

SUPPLIES - $1,490,430.35

EDUCATION SOFTWARE/APPS - $1,212,894.04

21 News reached out to the district for comment on purchases of goods and services, but was referred back to the response the district supplied when the state audit was released that stated “Youngstown City Schools worked cooperatively and transparently with the audit team for the Performance Audit that was required by HB 110. We know that one of the concerns that has been pointed out is the projected negative fund balance in a few years. It is important to note that this is not new information. Our district treasurer conducted the five-year forecast and reported publicly a projected negative fund balance in his last two forecasts and most recently at a December Board of Education meeting.”

Youngstown City School Board said in January it is not publicly discussing the state performance audit or ongoing developments with the FBI. A call to YCSD Board President Juanita Walker said to attend the board meetings to hear more about their plan for working on the deficit.

QuickMed’s owner Esmail provided an emailed response from a representative that claimed the FBI is looking into dozens or more contracts between companies, some local, that had contracts with the Youngstown City School District. 

Melissa Robinson with City Kids Care told 21 News reporter Madison Tromler they first began working with the district in 2017, and fulfilled each contract with the district including services like supporting school communication with students and parents, help with processing attendance, homework assistance and food distributions.

Calls, texts and emails to other businesses about services supplied were not provided as of the publishing of this story. 

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