Letter to the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development — Maintenance of Equity (March 27, 2024)
Summary
A March 27, 2024 letter from Adam Schott, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, to Alaska Commissioner of Education Deena M. Bishop places an additional condition on Alaska's ARP ESSER award (S425U210020) and designates the State a high-risk grantee, because Alaska remains non-compliant with the section 2004(b) maintenance of equity requirement for high-need and highest-poverty LEAs. The Department notes that final FY 2022 data arrived on March 8, 2024, more than two years after the October 15, 2021 deadline, and that Alaska made no commitment to a supplemental appropriation in the current legislative session. The designation can be lifted if Alaska confirms an appropriations request or presents a sufficient plan within 30 days. Tables list shortfalls such as $7,186,852 for the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District in FY 2022.
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“Letter to the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development — Maintenance of Equity (March 27, 2024).”
Original at www.ed.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/department-of-education-3-27-2024-used-www-ed-gov-5efd02d466-98d7ea8a03/
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UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
OFFICE OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION
March 27, 2024
The Honorable Deena M. Bishop
Commissioner of Education
Alaska Department of Education and Early Development
P.O. Box 110500
Juneau, AK 99811
Dear Commissioner Bishop:
On December 22, 2023, the U.S. Department of Education (Department) required the Alaska
Department of Education and Early Development (DEED) to provide a plan, within 30 days,
demonstrating the State’s efforts to actively resolve its lack of compliance with the maintenance
of equity requirement in section 2004(b) of the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act, which is a
condition of receiving ARP Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER)
funds. Specifically, the State was required to provide by January 22, 2024: 1) updated State
educational agency (SEA)-level maintenance of equity data that is consistent with the
Department’s November 2, 2023, correspondence regarding the inclusion of hold-harmless
funding; and 2) information on how the State would demonstrate compliance in FY 2022 for the
LEAs in which the State did not maintain equity. While Alaska furnished final State-level
maintenance of equity data on March 8, 2024, the State remains non-compliant for high-need and
highest-poverty local educational agencies (LEAs), including two LEAs in FY 2022.
On March 22, 2024, Alaska sent a letter to the Department that described how the SEA could
request a supplemental appropriation to resolve the maintenance of equity compliance issues but
made no commitment to do so in the current State legislative session. Accordingly, as of March
27, 2024, Alaska has failed to provide the Department with a sufficient plan detailing whether
any supplemental payments to the identified LEAs will be made. As a result, the Department is
placing an additional condition on the State’s ARP ESSER award (S425U210020) and is
designating the State as a high-risk grantee for its ARP ESSER grant under 2 C.F.R. §§ 200.208
and 3474.10.
The condition applied to the grant (S425U210020) is:
As of March 27, 2024, Alaska did not demonstrate that it met the maintenance of equity
requirements in section 2004(b) of the ARP Act, which required, as a condition of receiving ARP
ESSER funds, that the SEA ensure its highest need LEAs did not experience a disproportionate
reduction in State funding in fiscal years (FYs) 2022 and 2023 (i.e., school years 2021-2022 and
2022-2023) and that LEAs serving the greatest numbers of students from low-income
backgrounds did not experience a decrease in State funding below their FY 2019 levels. Alaska
must demonstrate compliance with the maintenance of equity requirement for one high-need LEA
and one highest-poverty LEA where the State did not maintain equity in FY 2022.
1
The State’s grant condition will remain until Alaska demonstrates that it has resolved its non-
compliance with the maintenance of equity requirements in section 2004(b) of the ARP Act.
Alaska has explained that this could be accomplished through a supplemental appropriations
request from the Governor to the legislature for consideration in the current session, which ends
May 15, 2024. The Department will remove the high-risk designation from Alaska’s ARP
ESSER grant award if, within 30 days of this letter, Alaska confirms that such an appropriations
request has been made; or otherwise presents a sufficient plan to resolve its non-compliance with
the maintenance of equity requirements in section 2004(b) of the ARP Act.
To request reconsideration of this grant’s high-risk status and condition, please send written
notification, describing why either or both should not be imposed, to your State’s program
officer within 10 days of the date of this letter. Failure to comply may result in additional,
appropriate enforcement actions including potential withholding proceedings or the recovery of
ARP ESSER funds.
As a condition for the receipt of nearly $359 million in ARP ESSER funds that are supporting
Alaska’s schools and students, the State assured the Department that it would meet these
requirements. However, the Department only received final FY 2022 data from the State on
March 8, 2024, more than two years after the original deadline of October 15, 2021. In addition,
Alaska has submitted multiple formal requests—on September 26, 2023, February 23, 2024, and
March 11, 2024—reflecting the Department’s guidance that allows an SEA to calculate whether
it has maintained funding equity with respect to its very small high-need and highest-poverty
LEAs within a reasonable “tolerance level.” On March 18, 2024, the Department determined that
Alaska’s plan included a reasonable level of tolerance for both FY 2022 and FY 2023 and for
five separate categories of LEA reflecting enrollment and geographic sparsity factors. While I
appreciate your work to resolve this matter, Alaska must address the outstanding non-compliance
as detailed below; see tables 1 and 2. Alaska is the only State that has not met, or presented a
sufficient plan for meeting, these requirements.
If you have any questions regarding the requested action items, please contact Sarah Laven Jones
at Alaska.OESE@ed.gov.
Sincerely,
Adam Schott
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary
Delegated the Authority to Perform the
Functions and Duties of the Assistant Secretary
Office of Elementary and Secondary Education
CC: The Honorable Mike Dunleavy
2
Table 1. Amount of State funding reductions considered disproportionate under FY 2022
maintenance of equity requirement
LEA Shortfall
Kenai Peninsula Borough School District $7,186,852
Anchorage School District $15,202,289
Table 2. Amount of State funding reductions considered disproportionate under FY 2023
maintenance of equity requirement
LEA Shortfall
Juneau Borough School District $204,309
Anchorage School District $1,391,681
Kenai Peninsula Borough School District $2,494,871
Fairbanks North Star Borough School District $3,097,911
3
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