Nevada — United States Department of Education to the Honorable Jhone M. Ebert (April 25, 2024)

Summary

Laura Jimenez, Director of the Office of State and Grantee Relations, tells Nevada Superintendent of Public Instruction Jhone M. Ebert in an April 25, 2024 letter that the Department accepts the Nevada Department of Education's written tolerance plan for FY 2023 maintenance of equity. Nevada treats LEAs with 100 students or fewer as very small, which covers one of its 76 LEAs and 0.02 percent of students, and proposes tolerating up to a one percent decline in per-pupil funding for that LEA. The Department says it reviewed the proposal, the data and the State's circumstances and finds the level of tolerance reasonable. The plan applies only to a subset of Nevada's LEAs.

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                                UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
                                     OFFICE OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION




                                                    April 25, 2024

The Honorable Jhone M. Ebert
Superintendent of Public Instruction
Nevada Department of Education
700 E. Fifth Street
Carson City, NV 89701

Dear Superintendent Ebert:

The U.S. Department of Education (Department) received your written plan for a reasonable
level of tolerance when calculating whether the Nevada Department of Education (NDE) has met
State maintenance of equity requirements in fiscal year (FY) 2023 under the American Rescue
Plan Act of 2021 (ARP Act). This written plan applies only to a subset of Nevada’s local
educational agencies (LEAs).

The ARP Act State maintenance of equity requirements help ensure that State funding supports
LEAs with high concentrations of poverty and students who have been subject to longstanding
opportunity gaps in our education system and experienced the greatest impact from the COVID-
19 pandemic. These requirements are vital for ensuring that States maintain funding to address
the impact of the pandemic on students’ education, and for protecting students in high-need and
highest-poverty LEAs from disproportionate cuts if reductions in State effort do occur.

The Department determined that it is consistent with the State maintenance of equity
requirements to allow a State educational agency (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.” The Department’s determination is based on the possibility of
significant volatility in the calculated per-pupil funding amounts for very small LEAs caused by
small changes in student enrollment, which may be unrelated to whether an SEA has achieved
the intent of the requirements. (See Frequently Asked Questions, American Rescue Plan
Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Program, Maintenance of Equity
Requirements, July 26, 2022, Question 21(a).)

NDE considers LEAs with enrollments of 100 students or fewer to be very small for the purposes
of this proposal. Under this proposed threshold, Nevada had one such LEA (out of 76 LEAs
statewide) in FY 2023 that served 0.02 percent of Nevada’s students. NDE asserts that calculated
per-pupil funding amounts for very small LEAs are significantly affected by small changes in
attendance rates and students’ educational needs, making per-pupil funding amounts an
imperfect indicator of whether the SEA has achieved the intent of maintaining equity in funding
across LEAs. For its one very small LEA, NDE proposes to implement a tolerance of up to a one
percent decline in per-pupil funding.
                                400 MARYLAND AVE. SW, WASHINGTON, DC 20202
                                               www.ed.gov

   The Department of Education’s mission is to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by
                               fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access
After reviewing NDE’s tolerance proposal and accompanying data, the unique circumstances in
the State, and our further State-specific analysis, we have determined that this approach includes
a reasonable level of tolerance when calculating whether Nevada has maintained equity in
FY 2023.

We appreciate your diligence in developing this proposal. If you have any questions, please
contact your program officer at: Nevada.OESE@ed.gov.

                                                   Sincerely,

                                                   Laura Jimenez

                                                   Laura Jimenez
                                                   Director, Office of State and Grantee Relations


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