The Grant They Forgot To Spend

Summer Budgeting Challenge

Issue #49: The Grant They Forgot to Spend

The email arrives on a Thursday in late June. It’s from your district’s finance office. Subject line: “Carry-forward funds — action required by July 31.” You open it. There’s $47,000 sitting in a restricted grant account. Money that was never spent. Money you didn’t know you had. Money that disappears in 28 days if you don’t use it.

Most school leaders never see it coming. You’re managing daily operations for ten months. Budget decisions happen fast, often without full information. And then summer arrives and someone finds money in a bucket you didn’t know was filling up.

The instinct is to spend it fast. Order technology. Buy furniture. Fill the supply room. But fast spending is where good principals make bad decisions. Urgency is not a strategy.

Before you spend a dollar, ask three questions. First, what does the grant actually allow? Restricted funds have rules. Spending outside those rules creates audit findings that follow you for years. Seco…