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Move to modify the ARPA federal funding plan submitted by DPI on April 1, 2021, as follows:
1. Reduce funding for administrative costs by $662,189, so that $1,200,000 remains for administration of ESSER III.
2. Delete the $600,000 minimum aid proposal provided under DPI’s plan, except increase the minimum aid proposed under DPI’s plan for the state’s residential schools for blind pupils to $300,000, the residential school for deaf pupils to $400,000, the Syble Hopp School operated by the Brown County Children with Disabilities Board to $700,000, and the Lakeland School operated by the Walworth County Children with Disabilities Board to $700,000 (frees up $37,261,355).
3. Delete the provision in DPI’s plan that would allocate the funds earmarked for learning loss using a formula grant process (frees up $77,039,242).
4. Provide a payment of $781 per pupil to Lincoln Academy, a new independent charter school located in Beloit, based on its September, 2021, headcount.
5. Use the amounts resulting from (1), (2), and (3), less the amount in (4) (totaling an estimated $114,642,576), to establish a per pupil minimum grant award of $781 for any local educational agencies (LEAs) that provided in-person instruction in the 2020-21 school year for at least 50% of the total instructional hours offered by the LEA, using the definition of in-person instruction and the data collection methodology under the in-person incentive under the plan for ESSER II funds as modified by the Committee. (A portion of the funds equal to $77,039,242 must be used to address learning loss, and must meet the other requirements for the earmark funds established under federal law.)
Under the Title I Part A formula used to allocate 90% of ESSER III funds, 153 LEAs receive less than $781 per pupil and could be eligible for a portion of this funding depending on the number of in-person instructional hours provided by the LEA.
6. After funding the aid entitlement under (5), allocate any funds remaining according to the methodology used for the in-person incentive funding under the ESSER II plan, as modified by the Committee. Only LEAs that receive less than $781 per pupil under the ESSER III Title I Part A allocation would be eligible to receive funding in this round. (Under this provision, LEAs are eligible to receive aid based on the number of in-person instructional hours provided to pupils in the 2020-21 school year. The amount of aid that will be received by each LEA will be calculated by dividing the number of in-person instructional hours provided by the LEA by the total number of in-person instructional hours provided by all eligible LEAs, with that proportion multiplied by the total amount of available funding.)
Decoding: ARPA: American Rescue Plan.
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