Granite District defends use of COVID funds after article suggests inappropriate spending
Feb 22, 2025, 9:00 PM
FILE — A Granite School District bus is pictured in Salt Lake City on Feb. 7, 2023. (Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)
(Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY — Granite School District on Friday defended the use of its COVID-19 relief funds after a Fox News story hinted at inappropriate spending by the district.
The story, which stated, “Granite Public Schools in Utah spent their COVID-relief funds on $86,000 in hotel rooms at Caesars Palace, a ritzy Las Vegas casino,” quickly gained traction on social media, prompting the district to respond.
“The funding in question was used to pay for hotel rooms for 123 educators from our district to attend a three-day professional educational convention hosted by Solution Tree in Las Vegas in 2022,” the district said in a statement. “Solution Tree is a highly reputable organization that provides effective professional development for educators from across the nation.”
It goes on to say the district conducted a needs assessment prior to submitting its plan— which was accepted by the Utah State Board of Education — to use the funds on professional learning.
“At the time, the closest available conference location was in Las Vegas, which was also the most cost-effective option, being only several hours from Salt Lake City. Other locations offered at that time were much further away and would have resulted in more costs for participation,” the statement reads.
The story, which didn’t provide any context to what the funds were used for but said “revelations about where money has been spent have sparked outrage,” sourced the information from a Thursday social media post from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
Schools have spent nearly $200B of COVID-Relief funds with little oversight or impact on students. $393K to rent out a Major League Baseball stadium, $86K in Caesars Palace hotel rooms, $60k in swimming pool passes, and even an ice cream truck. All of this money was drawn with…
— Department of Government Efficiency (@DOGE) February 20, 2025
“All of this money was drawn with zero documentation,” reads the post.
The statement from Granite said the story contains “many factual errors” — one of which was referring to the district by the wrong name — and added that no one from Fox News “has ever contacted us to verify the facts of the report.”
Still, the story caught the eye of former write-in gubernatorial candidate Phil Lyman, who wrote on a social media post, “For years I have been asking how Utah’s Covid funds were spent. Utahns deserve a complete, unbiased accounting of how those funds were used.”
For years I have been asking how Utah’s Covid funds were spent. Utahns deserve a complete, unbiased accounting of how those funds were used.
Thanks to @DOGE it is all being revealed.
“The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk to purge wasteful… https://t.co/6Jb90ZtGeq pic.twitter.com/qchvHs60Ed
— Just Phil Lyman (@phil_lyman) February 21, 2025
For years I have been asking how Utah’s Covid funds were spent. Utahns deserve a complete, unbiased accounting of how those funds were used.
Thanks to @DOGE it is all being revealed.
“The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk to purge wasteful… https://t.co/6Jb90ZtGeq pic.twitter.com/qchvHs60Ed
— Just Phil Lyman (@phil_lyman) February 21, 2025
Granite’s statement went on to say that there is no investigation into the use of the funds, which were approved by Utah’s state board of education.
“Granite School District has NOT been contacted or questioned by any state or federal regulatory agency about the use of these funds. We first heard of this concern on social media. As such, we were surprised to be accused of fraud without having some contact from anyone to verify the legitimacy of the expense,” said the statement, which can be read in its entirety here.
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