Congressman Pens Letter to Treasury Secretary Over Sartell St. Stephen School District’s Use of COVID-19 Relief Funding for Equity Audit Survey

(KNSI) – Minnesota’s Sixth District Congressman Tom Emmer has sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen questioning the Sartell St. Stephen School District’s use of COVID-19 funding to pay for an equity audit survey.

The letter says the audit cost the district $80,000, paid for with COVID-19 relief funding. Emmer says he’s concerned using the money in that way “appears to be beyond the scope and appropriateness for which the relief was initially intended.”

A group of concerned parents and community members have been vocal about the survey results, which they say paints the district as racist. They also say that Equity Alliance Minnesota suggested ISD 748 to hire an equity officer in the district, and Equity Alliance Minnesota offered to fill that role. The group says a move like that shuts out parents and community members from conversations regarding how to handle issues of racism and bullying within the district.

A student named Haley Yasgar addressed the school board at a meeting earlier this month saying she was in fourth grade when the survey was given, and she felt uncomfortable and confused after being told by a teacher not to share the survey questions with her parents.

“As a father, I am deeply troubled by the reports coming from the Sixth District. It is never appropriate for our students to feel like they cannot share information with their parents or guardians. Even worse, our students should never be instructed to withhold things from them,” said Emmer.

Emmer continued, “The federal government authorized trillions of dollars in COVID relief spending to help businesses and families combat the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. The use of taxpayer dollars to fund an audit of this nature seems extraneous at best, which is why we are asking Secretary Yellen for information about what the Treasury Department is doing to ensure these funds are used in accordance with the intent of the laws that provided them.”

While the federal government did not set exact parameters for how to spend the COVID-19 relief money, the letter asks Secretary Yellen to “explain how contracts for an ‘equity survey’ like the one conducted at ISD 748 comport with that intent” based on her understanding of the COVID-19 relief laws adopted by Congress. It also asks her to describe the Department of the Treasury’s steps to build and strengthen oversight mechanisms currently in place and what future steps will be taken to make sure COVID relief funding is used appropriately.

The letter says the emergency relief funding needs to help small businesses retain employees, hospitals to provide life-saving services, teachers buy personal protective equipment and supplies for students to get back into the classroom. The letter says it is difficult to understand the correlation between COVID-19 recovery funding and “forcing fourth graders to take a survey without any parental guidance that makes them feel uncomfortable.”

In a statement sent to parents on Monday, Sartell St. Stephen Superintendent Dr. Jeffrey Ridlehoover says families could opt out of taking the survey.

Congressman Emmer is the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations for the House Committee on Financial Services.

Cosigners of the letter include Seventh District Congresswoman Michelle Fischbach, Eighth District Representative Pete Stauber, and First District Congressman Jim Hagedorn.

Read the full letter here.

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