Grants and Other Financial Assistance Programs

FY2022: American Rescue Plan Act: Elementary and Secondary Education Emergency Relief (ESSER III) Funds

Fund Code: 119

Purpose:

The American Rescue Plan Act provides resources to school districts to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Education portion of this funding, the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief's (ESSER III or ARP ESSER) purpose is to help schools and districts safely reopen and sustain the safe operation of schools and must respond to the academic, social, emotional, and mental health needs of all students, and particularly those disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Priorities:

The priorities of the ESSER III funds are to support activities to address needs arising from the coronavirus pandemic, this includes:

Any activity authorized by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA), or Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 (Perkins CTE);
Required reservation of at least 20 percent of district ESSER III funds to address lost instructional time through the implementation of evidence-based interventions and ensure that those interventions respond to students' social, emotional, and academic needs and address the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on underrepresented student subgroups:
- low-income children or students,
- children with disabilities,
- English learners,
- racial and ethnic minorities,
- students experiencing homelessness, and
- children and youth in foster care;
Coordination of preparedness and response efforts of LEAs with State and local public health departments, and other relevant agencies, to improve coordinated responses among such entities to prevent, prepare for, and respond to COVID-19. Developing strategies that describe and implementing public health protocols how they might align with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the reopening and operation of school facilities to effectively maintain the health and safety of students, educators, and other staff;
Developing and implementing procedures and systems to improve the preparedness and response efforts of LEAs;
School facility repairs and improvements, such as efforts to improve indoor air quality to reduce risk of airborne virus transmission and exposure to environmental hazards. Inspection, testing, maintenance, repair, replacement, and upgrade projects to improve the indoor air quality in school facilities, including mechanical and non-mechanical heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems, filtering, purification and other air cleaning, fans, control systems, and window and door repair and replacement;
Training and professional development on sanitizing and minimizing the spread of infectious diseases;
Purchasing supplies to sanitize and clean the facilities of a LEA, including buildings;
Planning for and coordinating during long-term closures, including:
- how to provide meals to eligible students,
- how to provide technology for online learning to all students,
- how to provide guidance for carrying out requirements under the IDEA and
- how to ensure other educational services can continue to be provided consistent with all Federal, State, and local requirements;
Purchasing educational technology (including hardware, software, connectivity, assistive technology and adaptive equipment) for students who are served by the LEA that aids in regular and substantive educational interaction between students and their teachers, including low-income students and students with disabilities;
Providing student mental health services and supports and maximize capacity for coordination to connect students to behavioral and mental health supports and services, including with school-based and community based-services and providers the hiring of counselors;
Planning and implementing activities related to summer learning and supplemental afterschool programs such as:
- providing classroom instruction or online learning during the summer months and
- addressing the needs of low-income students, students with disabilities, English learners, migrant students, students experiencing homelessness, and children in foster care; and
Other activities that are necessary to maintain the operation of and continuity of services in LEA and continuing to employ existing staff of the LEA

Eligibility:

Awards are based on each district's share of funds received under Title I, Part A of ESEA in fiscal year 2021.

Funding Type:

Federal CFDA 84.425

Funding:

An estimated $1.6 billion will be available for eligible districts. FY22 ESSER III Fund allocations will be posted on the Grants Management website as soon as they are available.

Funding is contingent upon availability. All dollar amounts listed are estimated/approximate and are subject to change. If more funding becomes available for this Fund Code, it will be distributed under the same guidelines that appear in this RFP document.

Fund Use:

Districts are permitted to use ESSER III funds to address the impact COVID-19 has had, and continues to have, on elementary and secondary schools. Please see the list of priorities above. In addition, districts must reserve at least 20 percent of its ESSER III funds to address lost instructional time through the implementation of evidence-based interventions and ensure that those interventions respond to students' social, emotional, and academic needs and address the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on underrepresented student subgroups. Districts must consult with stakeholders within the community, and determine the best use of the funds before submitting their grant application, which serves as the district's ESSER III implementation plan.

A Maintenance of Equity Assurance will be included on your ESSER III application as a condition of receiving ESSER III funds. Districts must agree to the following in FY22 and FY23:

State and Local funds: Your district will not reduce the per pupil allocation of state and local funds to your high-poverty schools by more than the total reduction of these funds to all schools divided by the total number of students enrolled in all your schools (if any) divided by the total number of students enrolled in all of your schools for that fiscal year, and
Full-time Equivalent Staff: Your district will not reduce the per pupil, full-time equivalent staff in any highpoverty school by an amount that exceeds the total reduction in full-time equivalent staff in all of your schools (if any) divided by the number of students enrolled in all of your schools for that fiscal year.

Within 30 days of receiving ESSER III funds, a district must make its Return to In-Person Instruction Plan publicly available on its website. A district must then review its plan every 6 months thereafter and revise as necessary (including consulting any changes to CDC guidance) until the end of the grant award. Note: The District Reopening Plan submitted to DESE for SY2020-2021, likely satisfies this requirement for the initial plan if it was published on the district's website and included public input.

Project Duration:

FY22: Upon approval – 6/30/2022 (Year 1)

The period of availability for FY22 ESSER III grant awards will be extended into FY23 7/1/2022 – 6/30/2023 (Year 2), FY24 7/1/2023 – 6/30/2024 (Year 3), and FY25 7/1/2024 – 9/30/2024 (Year 4).

Program Unit:

Resource Allocation Strategy and Planning

Contact:

Federal Grants at federalgrantprograms@mass.gov

Phone Number:

(781) 338-6230

Date Due:

Monday, October 4, 2021

Note: A start date cannot be given until we have a substantially approvable information and budget for the grant.

Required Forms:

ESSER III Funds Application Workbook
Please save the excel workbook as file name: ESSERIII-leacode.xlsm. For example, Abington would name the file as ESSERIII-0001.xlsm
- Part I Signature Page with original signature of the Superintendent/Executive Director. Note: Please sign and date your cover page and ensure the allocation matches the amount budgeted.
- Schedule A (if applicable)

Additional Information:

Applicants may only legally claim expenses to the grant once they have final DESE approval and have been given a start date. The start date for the grant is the date on which the district submits substantially approvable budget and information for the grant.

Submission Instructions:

Submit the application and required grant materials in EdGrants.

In EdGrants, districts are required to create and name the project.

Please use the following naming convention for your "Applicant Project Name" in EdGrants:

Create and name the project: FY22 FC 119 Applicant Name ESSER III Applicant Number
- For example, Abington (0001) would name the file as:
  FY22 FC 119 Abington ESSER III 0001

Note: A start date cannot be given until we have a substantially approvable information and budget for the grant.

In EdGrants, district staff enter the grant budget, and upload all required documents listed in the Required Forms section of this RFP and outlined on the Attachments List section of the EdGrants Application Submission.

For additional submission instructions, see the "Read Me First" tab of the ESSER III Application workbook.

For Guidance Documents regarding EdGrants, visit EdGrants: User Guides and Information.

Please note: It is up to the district to determine who it wants to add as EdGrants Front Office users to submit the grant application as well as payment request information. Please review the EdGrants: User Security Controls to make informed decisions regarding assigning your district level users.

Last Updated: July 9, 2021