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- Category: Service & Support
- DATE: May 20, 2026
It's Year-End budget Season: Here's How to Put Your Remaining Funds to Work Fast
For most schools and districts, June 30 is the fiscal finish line. Here’s what you can do with what’s left and how to move quickly without the procurement headache.
Every year, as the school calendar winds down, facilities managers, department heads, business officers, and administrators find themselves in the same position: there’s money left in the budget, and it won’t carry over.
The question isn’t whether to spend it, it’s what to spend it on, and how to move fast enough to make it happen before June 30.
At H2I Group, we work with K-12 districts and higher education institutions across the country on athletics, laboratory, and technical education solutions. We’ve seen what works at year-end to make the most of your funds. Here’s a practical guide to what’s available, what funds can be used, and what can actually get done before your fiscal year closes.
First: What Funding Do You Actually Have?
The short answer is probably more than you think, from more sources than just your operating budget. Here are the main funding streams that are active for most districts and institutions right now:
- Local operating budget: The most common “use it or lose it” source. Unspent funds return to the general fund at fiscal year-end, so anything left on the table is gone.
- Title I and Title IV-A: Federal formula grants that can cover instructional equipment, safe and healthy school environments, and well-rounded education activities.
- Perkins V (Carl D. Perkins CTE Act): Nearly $1.4 billion distributed annually to secondary and postsecondary career and technical education programs. If your district has a technical education or vocational program, this is one of your most relevant funding sources.
- IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act): This supports students with disabilities and can apply to accessible facility and equipment upgrades.
- State formula funds and capital or bond dollars: Many districts have passed recent bonds specifically for facility upgrades. If yours did, that money is intended to be spent on exactly this kind of investment.
Not sure what’s available from your specific federal allocations, or whether a particular fund can be used for a given project? Your business manager or finance director will have the clearest answer, and cooperative purchasing contracts like those listed below are designed to be compliant with federal procurement requirements.
Additional Purchasing Pathways
One of the biggest obstacles to year-end spending isn’t budget, it’s procurement. By the time a project gets formally scoped, advertised, evaluated, and awarded through a traditional bid process, the fiscal year may be over. The good news is you have another option through cooperative purchasing contracts.
H2I Group holds cooperative purchasing contracts through several nationally and regionally recognized cooperative organizations. These contracts are competitively solicited on behalf of public agencies, meaning the competitive bid process has already been done for you. Schools, districts, and government entities can purchase directly off these contracts without issuing their own RFP, saving significant time while remaining fully compliant.
This applies to both products and services. Design, installation, and project management are usually covered in these contracts too, not just equipment.
Here are a few of the cooperative purchasing options available through H2I Group:
- Sourcewell: A nationally leveraged cooperative with contracts covering STEM Education Solutions and Equipment (Contract #010725-H2I) and Artificial Turf, Track Surfacing, and Associated Equipment (Contract #031622-H2I). Free to join, accepted in all 50 states, and compliant with federal procurement requirements. Sourcewell’s compliance team can answer agency-specific questions directly.
- TIPS (The Interlocal Purchasing System): A national purchasing cooperative available to public and private schools, colleges, universities, cities, counties, and other government entities across all 50 states. H2I Group holds TIPS contracts covering laboratory solutions and full lab buildouts (Contracts #26010401 and #26010402), athletics equipment and installation (Contract #260203), and more.
- OMNIA Partners, PEPPM, COSTARS, and additional state and institution-specific contracts are also available, depending on your location and purchasing needs.
To see the full list of H2I Group’s cooperative purchasing contracts and find the right fit for your agency, visit: https://h2igroup.com/cooperative-purchasing-contracts/.
If your district or institution isn’t already registered with one of these cooperatives, most are free to join, and registration takes only a few minutes. And if you have compliance questions about whether your specific funding source is eligible, we’ll connect you directly with the cooperative’s team. You don’t need to be an expert in the contract to use it.
What Can You Actually Get Done by June 30?
Here’s a practical breakdown of H2I Group’s solution areas and the products and projects that are well-suited to fast, end-of-year procurement.
Athletics and Physical Education
Athletic facility investments are among the most durable uses of year-end funds. They’re visible to students, parents, and the community, and they hold their value for years. Many projects can be scoped, quoted, and ordered quickly. Products and projects to consider include gymnasium equipment, fitness and weight room equipment, bleachers and seating, athletic flooring (screen and recoat or new gym floors), locker room upgrades, scoreboards and timing systems, outdoor athletic equipment, field equipment and goals, and storage solutions. Larger projects, such as turf, track, and facility lighting, are also available through cooperative contracts.
Commonly used funding sources for athletics: local operating budget, Title IV-A, bond and capital funds, state formula funds.
Laboratory and Science Environments
Science lab upgrades are a strong fit for Title I and Title IV-A funds, and many product categories, including furniture, safety equipment, and supplies, can ship and install on relatively short timelines. Full lab design and installation services are also available through H2I Group’s cooperative contracts, so you’re not limited to just purchasing equipment. Products and services to consider include lab casework, laboratory equipment, fume hoods, countertops, flexible bench systems, science storage, and lab design and installation services.
Commonly used funding sources for laboratory: Title I, Title IV-A, local operating budget, state STEM grants, bond, and capital funds.
Technical Education / CTE
If your district receives Perkins V funding, CTE investments are the clearest and most direct use of those dollars before fiscal year-end. From individual equipment purchases to full STEM lab buildouts, H2I Group can help scope and deliver projects through cooperative contracts. Products and services to consider include CTE lab equipment and makerspace tools and furniture, which include 3D printers, 3D scanners, laser engravers, CNC machines, printer/cutters, heat presses, fume extractors, woodshop machines, etc.
Year-end is a good time to take advantage of available demo units, limited-time promotions, and special purchasing opportunities on select tech ed equipment. These options can help stretch remaining funds while bringing high-quality tools into the classroom before the fiscal year closes.
Commonly used funding sources for CTE: Perkins V (primary), Title IV-A, state CTE formula funds, local operating budget.
The Short Version
If you have funds to commit before June 30, here’s the path:
Confirm what’s remaining with your business manager or finance office.
Check whether your district or institution is already a member of a cooperative purchasing organization. Most are free to join if you’re not.
Reach out to H2I Group. We can turn a quote around quickly.
Have compliance questions about your funding source or contract eligibility? We’ll connect you directly with the right cooperative purchasing team.
If you aren’t looking to purchase equipment or furniture and are just looking to get things fixed up during summer break, we can help there too.
To explore H2I Group’s full list of cooperative purchasing contracts, visit https://h2igroup.com/cooperative-purchasing-contracts/ or contact us to talk through what makes sense for your project and your budget.
Gym control systems manage the operation of equipment like backstops, curtains, and scoreboards. Ensuring these systems are functioning properly helps streamline daily use and prevent operational issues during the school year. Updating control systems can also improve ease of use, consolidate controls, and reduce the risk of user error during daily operation.
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