Starting in May 2020, the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) fund transferred billions of dollars through state departments and on to districts to support COVID-19 recovery efforts. The funding, which lasts through 2024, represents the largest one-time infusion of federal dollars ever provided to K-12 school districts and has the potential to reshape key elements of the educational system. Using line-item data from Rhode Island's district accounting system alongside interviews with district leaders, the authors investigate overall spending patterns and expenditures in the largest budget categories -- personnel, supplies and partners, technology, and operations and facilities. In this brief, the authors focus on dollars spent by traditional (non-charter) districts on staffing and personnel, by far the largest category of ESSER spending.