Audit Finds Cooper Admin Incompetence Caused $63 Million in Emergency Education Funds for Poor Went Unspent

RALEIGH – Government; they can’t even give money away efficiently.

An audit from N.C. State Auditor Beth Wood has concluded that the administration of Governor Roy Cooper failed so miserably at administering an emergency education grant program — an ‘Extra Credit’ program using federal funds to give families $335 to use for virtual schooling and child care — that tens of millions of dollars went unspent, and ultimately returned to the big purse at the General Assembly.

What’s worse is that Wood’s report indicates it is the poorest North Carolina families that were left out. From the Carolina Journal:

“[…] Wood found that the Cooper administration failed to take several steps that would have helped low-income families.

Instead, the department sent nearly $63 million remaining in the grant program back to the general fund. 

Many of these families did not file a state tax return because they earned less than $10,000 if single or $20,000 if married and filing jointly.

The Cooper administration should have created a simple-to-use application in plain language for these families, the audit states. Instead, the application the Department of Revenue used tax terminology and jargon. […]”

In response to the poor execution of the law they passed, the General Assembly has extended the deadline for the Extra Credit program until May 31.

Read more about it, and the auditor’s report, here.