Comprehensive Needs Assessment Part II

This is the time of year Federal Program Directors are beginning the planning process for FY22. In my last post, I talked about conducting surveys of all stakeholders to not only garner input for planning but to evaluate the prior year’s plan implementation. Once you have obtained the feedback from the surveys, the planning process … Read more

Comprehensive Needs Assessment I

It’s time for LEAs to start planning for use of federal funds for the FY22 school year.  This is a time to look ahead and project how we will spend our federal dollars based on the LEA’s needs.  It’s a time of gathering data to enable an efficient review of the current year and prior … Read more

NEW COVID-19 RELIEF PACKAGE IMPACT ON K-12 SCHOOLS

Happy New Year!  May 2021 bring an end to Covid-19 quickly! As we wait for Covid-19 to end, it looks like the Covid-19 Relief bill signed by President Trump will give K-12 schools more ESSER funds.  According to FutureED, the new relief package will provide 54.3 billion dollars to K-12 schools.  The earlier CARES Relief bill … Read more

ESSERF Equitable Services Update #2

As I’m sure you are now aware, a summary judgment was issued against the ESSERF Interim Rule which resulted in it being thrown out by the courts.  ESSERF is now to be allocated in the same manner as for equitable services for Title I schools.  If this has caused problems for you like it has … Read more

Schoolwide Plans FY21

It’s time to update our Title I Schoolwide Plans.  Since our plans are a three-year plan, the schools do not have to update all of the plan. Schools only have to revise the sections in MCAPS that have changed.  In addition, since standardized tests were not given in the spring, we don’t have test scores, … Read more

Parent and Family Engagement During Covid-19

It’s September, and we are still in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.  Some schools are back in traditional settings, some are in virtual, and some are in hybrid mode.  Some schools have delayed opening.  It is certainly strange times, isn’t it?  As a  superintendent friend of mine has said, the word for the year … Read more

ESSERF and Equitable Services

I’m sure most of you are aware that MDE chose to allocate equitable services based on poverty as opposed to private school student enrollment, as guidance from the US Department of Education detailed.  There has been much disagreement on Capitol Hill with DeVos’s interpretation of the Act.  Members from both sides of the aisle in … Read more

Don’t Forget About Maintenance of Effort

As we approach the CARES ESSER funding period, along with one year extensions for spending FY19 and FY20 monies, and with FY21 carryover requirements waived, districts may find themselves with what is perceived to be extra funds.  The temptation may be to use schoolwide federal dollars to pay for personnel previously funded by district dollars.  Prior to the redefining of supplement not supplant, this would have been considered supplanting.  If your district is considering making these types of moves, I would suggest one look carefully at the pros and cons.  One of the ramifications of shifting personnel expenses to federal is that it could impact the district’s maintenance of effort (MOE) by reducing the amount of state and district funding to a school while federal funding increases.  I ran across the MOE FAQs found in the link below.  The FAQ applies to the CARES Act and to state funding, but as we know, what applies to the state eventually rolls down hill to the districts.  Just something to consider….

https://oese.ed.gov/files/2020/06/CARES-Act-Programs-Maintenance-of-Effort-FAQ.pdf?utm_content=&utm_medium=email&utm_name=&utm_source=govdelivery&utm_term=

FY21 CFPA Completion Hints

As you are aware, the FY21 CFPA is due June 19th.  Most of us submit and wait for MDE to return the plan to us for correction.  As a means of reducing the chance of plans being returned, let me suggest a few hints. If you have any amount of money left on the PPA … Read more

Getting Started with the FY21 Title Plan

I know everyone is busily working on their FY21 Title Applications.  If you have not yet started, that’s okay.  You can still get this done. If you are new at this, let me offer some suggestions that have worked well for me over the years. Gather all personnel costs for the district and each school; … Read more

Private Schools and ESSER/CARES Funds

Those of you with private schools may want to read this in regards to ESSER/CARES funds. It sounds like a fight may be a brewing! http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2020/05/public-school-backlash-grows-devos-coronavirus-aid-private-school.html

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