Greenville Public School District has until Tuesday to return roughly $4 million in pandemic relief funds if it cannot document how the money was spent, the Mississippi Department of Education said. The department told the district it needs additional paperwork to ensure the federal grant was used as intended, and the district may request an extension, the agency said. The Internal Revenue Service has also demanded about $500,000, saying tax information withheld from employee salaries was not submitted properly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
District leaders discussed the demand letters and other financial pressures at an April 30 school board meeting, where they reported a $1.5 million deficit as of that date, two months before the end of the budget year, board members said. Board President Antoinette Williams told the board she expects tax collections in May and June to cover the shortfall.
Superintendent Ilean Richards said the district has more than $6 million set aside to reduce short-term debt but wants to keep those funds available for disasters. “We’ve got to stay afloat financially,” Richards said. Richards, who was appointed superintendent in January 2025, said she was told the state had requested documentation before she arrived but had not received it, and that the agency had now given the district a second chance.
Construction projects have added to the district’s fiscal strain. Greg Durrell, the architect overseeing projects, said work on the Greenville Technical Center is more than 452 days late and may cost about $200,000 more because of bad weather, material shortages and aging infrastructure that required more extensive rewiring. The district’s 2024 financial audit found it struggled to account for construction-related purchases and that its ledger did not always reflect purchases accurately, the audit says. “We’ve got to look at the fact that there was poor leadership and some things were not done well, and that is why we’re in the situation that we may be facing,” school board secretary Allison Washington said.
Richards pointed to other budget risks, including declining enrollment, rising fuel and construction costs and higher-than-expected health insurance expenses. She said the district has spent roughly $136,000 on substitute teachers since August amid about 900 staff absences this school year. A budget hearing is scheduled for June 17 at the Manville Curriculum Center, and board member Drew Newsom said staff cuts and school consolidations could be considered to balance future budgets.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
